To my amazement, when I typed in "flag-draped coffins Iraq" I found on the first page of images a photo that looked quite familiar -- it was my own quilt, Kentucky Graveyard (Iraq).
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The quilt indeed featured flag-draped coffins. I made it in 2006 and I had written about it in my blog at the tenth anniversary of 9/11. The next thing you know, there it is on page one of Google.
Heck, the only way I knew of to get on page one of Google was to type in my own name, and even then, other people show up. On a more serious note, it's only because there were so few photos made of the flag-draped coffins from Iraq that my quilt had the slightest chance of being noticed. I guess that proves the original point: images of death have immense power.
We were recently watching a marathon on Death masks of famous people. Creepily interesting! Still it made me wonder if the popularity of making the masks were made for historical value, art value, the shock value or a bit of all three
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, congratulations on this amazing quilt. It succeeds on so many levels, not the least of which is the great tradition of mourning quilts, especially that famous one with the coffins.
ReplyDeleteBut I've been thinking about death images. Seems to me late 20th and 21st society has death all over popular culture and it is not considered that shocking. What about those violent video games and movies that seem like second nature to so many? Death and dead bodies seem to be taken so casually in those venues.
Judy -- you're certainly correct about death all over the video games, yet the society apparently makes a big distinction between faux death and real death.
DeletePerhaps the young people who so callously shoot others cannot make this distinction -- they see real life as merely an extension of video.
A lot to think about along these lines, and it probably doesn't reflect very well upon our society.
This is a remarkable quilt. Being ex-military and a patriot I am so very proud of your quilt. It is true museum quality. It must have been wonderful to work on.
ReplyDeleteIt is an amazing quilt and I hate to burst your bubble, but it seems that Google knows enough to post your images first when you search. I have had the same experience.
ReplyDeletewell, Terry, you sure are a party pooper! Except when I type in "flag draped coffins" (not mentioning Iraq) my image shows up nowhere, at least down 50 pages or so which was as far as I looked.
DeleteI'll test your theory in the future, however. I am willing to believe that google knows more about me than I do.