Coverage on wars since the turn of the 21st century has usually been by media outside of the military community, often leaving out first person narratives of war. Thirteen years ago, I married a service member. I have lived the moments leading up to war and the aftermath of war firsthand. To understand my new life as a military spouse living on a military base, I began photographing my new community, exploring my role in the military structure. These photographs soon evolved into a documentary project about how military families live, including my own experiences as a spouse and mom.
The visual representation of the military family experience is often reduced to a single image of the service member’s return home. An embrace. A tearful reunion. These images, however, do not capture the long preparation for deployments, training exercises that can be fatal, and spouses (95% women) who raise children alone, often cut-off from critical support systems.
What is the cost of war? What does it mean to be at war? This project began as a means for me to answer these questions for myself.
arinyoon@gmail.com
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