Orion Over Baghdad at Andrew Rafacz

by Niki Grangruth

“Orion Over Baghdad”

When an artist’s work entails creating an archive of appropriated images (or text), they take on roles as both artist and curator – which is exactly what Jason Lazarus does in the installation “Orion Over Baghdad” at Andrew Rafacz. The works consists of four large scale silver gelatin prints that stand 90” tall and 56” wide, completely filled with white text on a black background. The text, appropriated from captions of images posted on Flickr by soldiers, becomes extremely powerful. I was especially drawn in by the variance in the simple captions – some seem quick and non-deliberate while other seem carefully considered, some are humorous and some are seriously direct, some poetic and some abruptly descriptive. Lazarus leaves the punctuation and grammar as is, which makes it more personal. For example, one phrase reads “Christmas in IRAQ!.” The capitalization and exclamation point make the phrase seem humorous, yet at the same time it evokes a sense of sadness. Since the captions refer to invisible pictures, the viewer must create an image. “Christmas in Iraq,” does not exactly conjure up a joyful picture of a family opening presents on Christmas morning. Another reads, “Iraq is losing the very people they need the most” and another says, “Ghost_Soldiers.” Such phrases summon a deep sense of sadness and loss. The variance in language begins to tell a story — a collective story from multiple soldiers’ experiences.

One of Lazarus's large scale prints

The scale also plays into the experience. The pieces begin almost at the ceiling and take on the appearance of monuments. The glass reflects the rest of the room and is immediately reminiscent of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial’s reflective black stone and the mass of names in white.

Lazarus also pulled 100 captions to become their own individual works, however “Orion Over Baghdad” is the only one exhibited in the show. These are much smaller pieces, and the singular caption is solitary on the black background. The singular captions have a much different feel – they are no longer a monument, but a memorial to a singular soldier, much like a tombstone.

Another considered choice was to create these using the traditional silver gelatin process. When I first realized these were actual photographic prints I asked myself “Why would you put all the effort into making silver gelatin prints when this is something that could be done so easily digitally.” The first answer I came up with was nostalgia. The traditional black and white print often references memories, but also Lazarus may be pointing to the tradition of war photography. It actually is important that these are photographs and refer to photographs. The text fades in some areas, a technical variance caused by printing on such large paper, and alludes to the idiosyncrasies of the traditional print.

A detail of the text in the “Orion Over Baghdad” show

And being the investigative person I am, I looked up some of these images on Flickr to see if it made a difference. It didn’t and I don’t recommend it. Lazarus’ work creates a new archive – a curated story mediated by both artist and soldiers and turns it into a memorial filled with a variety of ideas and emotions.