"Just Victims Of The In-House Drive-By..."

Another Soldier by Mark James

On the 11th November 2007, Remembrance Sunday, the Ministry of Defence stated that 171 British Soldiers had died in Iraq since the beginning of the war in March 2003. A new series of prints by Mark James explores the current attitude towards the war in Iraq focusing on the seemingly irreverent way human lives are being sacrificed and our apparent emotional disengagement from such atrocities.

Another Soldier was originally created as a one off piece for the Action Man 4040 exhibition in May 2006 (www.am4040.com) the original piece sold at auction, but as time has passed the work has become a more potent symbol for the frivolous and disposable way soldiers lives are being used by our government to fight in an unjust war. As the war in Iraq blunders on the stories of horror and tragedy occurring on a daily basis are routinely being glossed over while the latest celebrity tittle-tattle and Big Brother headlines are given front page prominence. The toy soldier lying in his coffin is intended as a stark reminder of our increasingly desensitised attitudes towards the concept of war, its brutal realities and our apparent acceptance of the government and the media's portrayal of war as a game that is played in some far-off land, with soldiers discarded like broken playthings unrelated to the real and significant, needless loss of human life.

Another Soldier will be an edition of 171 screen prints, each representing a soldier. Taken from one original image, each print varies slightly as the ink dries and fills each screen; the image gradually decaying at each stage in the printing process.

The prints will be for sale with 10% of proceeds going to the Royal British Legion. Printed on 250gsm white Keycolour, B2 (700x500mm) Each print will be signed and numbered.

Available from December 3rd through Scrawl Collective.

- slamxhype