"Eyes Wide Open": The Iraq War as Portrayed by an Art Installation in Central Park

Paper Summary:

"Eyes Wide Open" is a politically and socially conscious art installation sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee, displaying the shoes of many American soldiers who were killed in the war against Iraq. This paper provides a response to the exhibition, bringing home its powerful message: in these shoes once stood human life and the physical emptiness after death.

From the Paper:

"The exhibit itself visually and viscerally brings the concepts of the course home. Photos of the Central Park installation that I saw can be found on the "Eyes Wide Open" website. However, even the pictures do not capture the essence of the exhibit. The sheer number of empty old shoes on display was astounding. At first I had no idea why the shoes were there; they were obviously on display for an artistic purpose and were not part of a massive Central Park garage sale. As we made our way through the labyrinth of shoes, my family and I encountered the other essential part of the exhibit: the names. Attached to each pair of shoes is a tag bearing the name and age of an American soldier who died in Iraq."

More papers on "Eyes Wide Open": The Iraq War as Portrayed by an Art Installation in Central Park:

• Book Review # 128012 : "Review of Keegan's "The Iraq War"
• Term Paper # 124926 : "PTSD and the Iraq War"
• Analytical Essay # 132327 : "The American Presidency and the Iraq War"

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