Falling Soldier

An artwork that has really stuck to me over the last 10 days is this Lego piece by
Marcos Vilarno. I came across the image on a posting on overthenet and since have found myself thinking about it often. I had never heard of this artist before.

About 10 years ago I was in Denmark and visted Legoland. Magically, It was snowing delicately during my visit. I have a few negatives from that occasion that I have not yet printed, but here is one that was. I put it in because It seems to match the image above, the juxtaposition reminding me of Gallipoli stories.


Below is the Robert Capa photo that Marcos Vilainos is quoting, taken during the Spanish Civil War and dated Sep 15, 1936. I was bought up on Capa's work, seeing it published often to illustrate the theme of war. The popular Life magazine published his photos and those of many others and luckily, when I was a boy, it was a magazine that often turned up in our home. It has turned out that Life was an important part of my photographic education.

Capa was killed in 1954, in Vietnam, while covering a battle between French soldiers and the Viet Minh. The film that was in his camera was developed and some images taken a moment before he stepped on a landmine, have been published posthumously.

This is a Capa cover for Life, 1938. This time a Chinese soldier at a time when China was under attack from Japan.