Brightest Young Things

Between 2007 and 2008, photographer Tim Hetherington (1970-2011) was embedded with U.S. Army soldiers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team at Outpost Restrepo, a remote and dangerous post in the Korengal Valley of northeastern Afghanistan. Living with the soldiers during their 15-month deployment, Hetherington recorded all aspects of their experience, from construction of the camp to scenes of intense combat, and through frequent passages of boredom and waiting. Many of his images show the soldiers during moments of respite, bonding through common interests in music, video games, sports, and other cultural experiences from back home.

Hetherington made numerous still photographs at Outpost Restrepo for print publications, but he also used video, audio, interviews, and personal writings, even incorporating images of soldiers' tattoos in his documentation. His complex multimedia journalism was intended not only to represent the platoon's experience of war with immersive depth but also to reach the widest possible audience. His video footage was featured in the Oscar-nominated documentary Restrepo, a collaboration with famed journalist Sebastian Junger. Hetherington's photographs and other documentation animate his award-winning book Infidel (2010). Hetherington also combined media to create his three-screen video installation Sleeping Soldiers (2010). In this revelatory presentation, the artist juxtaposes chaotic scenes of combat with still images of soldiers at rest, allowing viewers to consider the uncertainty, stress, and physical toll of combat in Afghanistan.

The Corcoran Gallery of Art presents Sleeping Soldiers, alongside a selection of Hetherington's photographs from Afghanistan. The exhibition is presented in conjunction with Shadows of History: Photographs of the Civil War from the Collection of Julia J. Norrell, in the Corcoran's Photography and Media Arts galleries.

"The book and film are about the intimacy of war, and that's what I see when I see the photographs of these guys sleeping," said Hetherington. "We are used to seeing soldiers as cardboard cutouts. We dehumanize them, but war is a very intimate act. All of those soldiers would die for each other. We're not talking about friendship. We're talking about brotherhood."

http://www.corcoran.org/hetherington/index.php