US election: Billboards of US soldiers cancelled in host city of Republican convention

[babsbunny]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/28/uselections2008.media

The photographs show the faces and close-cropped heads of nine youthful soldiers lying peaceful and prone

* Daniel Nasaw in Washington
* guardian.co.uk,
* Thursday August 28 2008 18:39 BST
* Article history

Soldier Billboard Project

US soldier featured in the Soldier Billboard Project. Photographer: Suzanne Opton

A series of portraits of American soldiers set to adorn roadside billboards in Minneapolis, site of next week's Republican convention, was abruptly cancelled by the billboards' owners, which feared they would be deemed disrespectful to the US military.

Although the artworks neither display images of violence nor are gruesome, the media company that owns the billboards said it feared pedestrians and motorists would mistake them for images of war dead.

The photographs show the faces and close-cropped heads of nine youthful soldiers lying peaceful and prone, flat against a surface.

"They don't look dead," said Suzanne Opton, the photographer of the series, entitled Soldiers' Faces.