Background information
"The photo book 'Attention Servicemember' by Ben BRODY is a passionate examination of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan by the US-American. He was once a soldier assigned to make visual propaganda during the Iraq war. After leaving the Army, he traveled to Afghanistan as an independent civilian journalist. After twelve years in the war, he returned to rural New England (USA) and found his home was not what it had been - even his own backyard radiated threat. So he continued to photograph war as it existed in his own mind. Inspired by military field manuals, 'Attention Servicemember' invites viewers through an evolving and often vicious creative process - some images are intimate snapshots, some are sophisticated jingoistic propaganda, others are meditative and subtle tableaus.
Ben BRODY writes and narrates from a very personal perspective, offering insiders a glimpse into the military, the media, and their contentious but symbiotic partnership. Anyone who wonders how it came to trust serial liars and argue about fake news should take a closer look at what happened in Baghdad and Kabul during those years. 'Attention Servicemember,' with a darkly appealing book design by KUMMER & HERRMAN, is a strong passport to this world." (free translation as well as slight alteration of publisher's text, © Red Hook Editions, 2019)
Content
"The diary-like photo book 'Attention Servicemember' by Ben BRODY contains photographs by soldier Ben BRODY, who was tasked with being as close as possible to the action of U.S. combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq to provide material for U.S. propaganda. In addition to excerpts from e-mails and the photos transmitted from the war zone, he also shows photos of everyday military life. The volume begins and ends each with a sequence of B&W shots taken in America - it remains unclear whether before and after combat operations. The remaining photos are in color, some taken with an infrared camera, and are interspersed with pages of text with drawings, which on the one hand are reminiscent of a manual for soldiers and on the other give insight into the thoughts and feelings of the American.
The volume, designed by the Dutch design studio KUMMER & HERMAN, is reminiscent in its directness of the photo book 'Passport' by Stanley GREENE; here, however, it is not an experienced war reporter who speaks, but a young man catapulted into the war scene at the age of 22, who has returned from the war visibly changed." (© Richard G SPORLEDER)
Additional information
Since 'Attention Servicemember' by Ben BRODY from 2017 sold out shortly after its release, the photographer decided to reissue it with a few more images; the reissue is labeled 'Mass Books', the pseudonym of the self-published volume.
In addition, there is a collector's edition of 'Attention Servicemember'. This includes: 1 signed & numbered first edition copy of the volume 'Attention Servicemember' and 1 handmade slipcase, made by Antler Editions in Easthampton, Mass. and 1 numbered 5 "x7" silver gelatin print, made by Ben BRODY on 6 "x9" archival fiber paper.
About US photographer Ben BRODY
Photo books by Ben BRODY
- Photographer(s)
- Ben BRODY (USA)
- Book design
- KUMMER & HERRMAN
- Format
- Pb. (open spine with linen band, no dust jacket, as issued), 17 x 24 x 3 cm., 304 pp., richly mainly full-paged color ills.
- Language(s)
- English
- Year of Release
- 2019
- Publisher
- Self published
- Print run details
- 1st print run, 1,000 copies
- Video
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=WFO-ykk0BPg&feature=emb_logo