Eyewitness, 2008

Exploring the propaganda of war

Eyewitness

A confronting, deliberately shocking Australian handmade book prepared beneath the shadow of war in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, Lebanon and the all-encompassing ‘War on Terror’. It explores the illegality, inhumanity and propaganda of war—and the ultimate tragedy of war: death.

The collaborative effort of painter Theo Strasser, photomonteur and poet Peter Lyssiotis and bookbinder Monica Oppen, it was published in an edition of ten. Images taken from newspaper articles dealing with corporate greed and the acquisition of military hardware are juxtaposed with handwritten apocalyptic messages and Biblical phrases. The pages are awash with bloodred paint. The red buckram cover suggests blood; the pink leather, human skin; and the exposed stitching on the spine recalls the stitching of the lips of detainees. Six leather straps around the spine symbolise the prison bars that confined the inmates. The book comes in a calico bag, evocative of hooded prisoners or sombre body bags.
Display item Eyewitness, 2008

 

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