Veteran's Day | Light

In honor of Veteran's Day, I'd like to make this post about the Marine Corps Memorial located in Washington DC. I visited this Memorial as well as others on Veteran's day in 2010. What I remember most about this particular Memorial was how it looked in the dark. As it turns out, it was one of the last Memorials we visited that day, and we were headed for our hotel just after we visited the Memorial. Evidently, the way the directed light was cast upon the soldiers showed that the people who designed the Memorial wanted to make the work, "spatially rich" by using specific light placement, as defined in Mary Stewart's textbook, Launching the Imagination (206-10). In this photo, taken by photographer James Seith, it is apparent that the light is cast up from the ground to illuminate the men from their feet. This allows the viewer to see the texture in the sculpture, but it also contains symbolic value. Light from the ground, regardless of if it originates from different angles upward around the Memorial, reminds the viewer that strength comes from deep down within us, and that despite the war within the world, America can unite and raise up (shown by the men also raising the flag as a team) as the light rises to illuminate their faces.