“Thank You For Your Service?” explores how memory of my military service experiences, culminating in frustration, anger, and violence, led to emotional withdrawal and physical stress. I work with the 4×6 photographs taken on deployments during my four years in the Marines, utilizing collage techniques to express the fragmentation of self that results from these memories. These recollections are a view into goals never achieved, training for a war I never saw, the transitional phase of being thrown back into civilian life, and the haunting regret and self-doubt of seeking new potential and purpose.
The collages are constructed with fragments from the textures and scenes that surround soldiers—weapons, fatigues, helmets, and the desert. I create small and sometimes miniature-scale works. This emphasizes not only a contrast in the lack of control I felt while serving, but also the shame I feel in not being able to see what is considered the pinnacle of a soldier’s duty. It creates a sense of preciousness and materiality, reminding me that I served honorably. Moreover, the labor used in making these works serves, in a therapeutic way, to address and critique the hidden desires I wanted to experience, such as protecting my country through combat. I use these objects or photographs to create a sense of acceptance of those themes. The glorification of killing another human being and acting as a destructive force of nature is falsely praised.
Artist Bios
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Ryan Mitchell
Ryan Mitchell is a New York-based photographer and military veteran. He has a BFA in Film and Television from Savannah’s College of Art and Design and an MFA in Art Photography from Syracuse University.
His images have been published in various publications, such as F-Stop Magazine, Undivided, and Perception. In 2024, his series was a finalist for Hand Magazine’s Ten Years out of Hand Publication and shortlisted for the BUP Photo Book Awards. He obtained the juror’s award in the CONSTRUCTED IMAGES Exhibit at Praxis Gallery and Hamidah Glasgow’s Juror’s Award in C4FP Center Forward 2024. His images have been exhibited across the United States and Europe.
Organizations
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Photoville
Founded in 2011 in Brooklyn, NY, Photoville was built on the principles of addressing cultural equity and inclusion, which we are always striving for, by ensuring that the artists we exhibit are diverse in gender, class, and race.
In pursuit of its mission, Photoville produces an annual, city-wide open air photography festival in New York City, a wide range of free educational community initiatives, and a nationwide program of public art exhibitions.
By activating public spaces, amplifying visual storytellers, and creating unique and highly innovative exhibition and programming environments, we join the cause of nurturing a new lens of representation.
Through creative partnerships with festivals, city agencies, and other nonprofit organizations, Photoville offers visual storytellers, educators, and students financial support, mentorship, and promotional & production resources, on a range of exhibition opportunities.
For more information about Photoville visit, www.photoville.com
Thank You For Your Service?
Featuring: Ryan Mitchell
Locations
View Location Details Brooklyn Bridge Park – Emily Warren Roebling Plaza1 Water St
Brooklyn, NY 11201
This location is part of Brooklyn Bridge Park
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The views and opinions expressed in this exhibit are those of the exhibition artists and partners and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Photoville or any other participants and partners of the Photoville Festival.
