The Vietnam Veterans Memorial
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, as many may know, is a tribute to those who served in the United States Armed Forces in the Vietnam War, located on the National Mall in Washington DC. While opinion is divided about whether we should have even gone to fight in Vietnam at all, the conflict had a human toll in lives that were cut short by war. The memorial was designed by Maya Lin in 1981, and dedicated on November 13, 1982. The memorial’s design consists of two gabbro walls embedded in the ground, with one wall pointing towards the Washington Monument, and the other pointing towards the Lincoln Memorial. Etched in the wall are the names of servicemembers who either died in the war or were missing in action.
This photo set was shot in the late afternoon on October 2, 2010, after the conclusion of the One Nation Working Together rally, held nearby at the Lincoln Memorial. While the rally was really nothing to write home about, you will see some people carrying protest signs in the set. The One Nation Working Together rally is where these signs come from.
In creating this photo set of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, I focused primarily on the names and on reflections off the wall, and worked to integrate the two to an extent. I also worked to ensure that a certain human element was included, as one of the features designed into the memorial was the ability for visitors to see themselves in the stone.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, as many may know, is a tribute to those who served in the United States Armed Forces in the Vietnam War, located on the National Mall in Washington DC. While opinion is divided about whether we should have even gone to fight in Vietnam at all, the conflict had a human toll in lives that were cut short by war. The memorial was designed by Maya Lin in 1981, and dedicated on November 13, 1982. The memorial’s design consists of two gabbro walls embedded in the ground, with one wall pointing towards the Washington Monument, and the other pointing towards the Lincoln Memorial. Etched in the wall are the names of servicemembers who either died in the war or were missing in action.
