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Soldier Billboard Project

The Soldier Billboard Project is very pleased to announce that a new billboard, “Soldier Williams: 396 days in Iraq” will go up on Veterans Day in Albany, New York through the sponsorship of The Sanctuary for Independent Media.

The Soldier billboards are part of Suzanne Opton’s larger “Soldier and Citizen” project, portraits of the aftermath of war in the Middle East. Beginning in 2004, Opton photographed more than ninety American soldiers between tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2007 she traveled to Jordan to photograph and interview Iraqi citizens who fled to Amman after the US-led invasion of Iraq.

The Soldier images are stark, elegant portraits that allow the viewer a serious and intimate look at the faces of returning troops. Of the Soldier portraits, Opton says, “ We all experience strategic moments when we feel most alive, be they transcendent or horrific, these are the memories that form our lives. In making portraits of soldiers, I wanted to look in the face of someone who had seem something unforgettable.”

By presenting these images as public art, The Soldier Billboard Project is bringing to the open air in America a subtle reminder of the realities of war. These billboards ask viewers to think about soldiers and about art and to come to their own conclusions.

The billboard is located on the right hand side of I-787 facing traffic heading south from downtown Albany. It will be up from November 10–December 6th.

Suzanne Opton’s work has been exhibited internationally and is featured in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum, Cleveland Museum, Library of Congress, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the Musee de Elysee in Lausanne, Switzerland.

This billboard is sponsored by The Sanctuary for Independent Media and generously supported by The Nathan Cummings Foundation and the New York Foundation for the Arts.