Sebastian Errazuriz used the side of his Brooklyn studio to highlight military suicide.
A New York-based artist is using a wall as his canvas to draw attention to the suicide rate among U.S. troops.
The simple exhibit, titled “American Kills,” compares U.S. military suicides in 2009 to the number of troops killed in the Iraq War over the same time period.
Sebastian Errazuriz, 32, used a series of black strokes on the outside of his white-cinderblock Brooklyn studio so that passersby can see at a glance the disparity between the death tolls.
“The counting of dead soldiers outside my studio was long and surprisingly eerie; it was hard to forget that every brush stroke was a soldier who had died the previous year,” Errazuriz said on his website.
The Chilean-born artist, who says he often leans on the “the dichotomies of life and death” in his art, came up with the idea after perusing Internet sites about war. He discovered there were more than twice the number of suicides in the military (304) than there were U.S. troop deaths during the Iraq War in 2009.
(Errazuriz’s sources peg the latter number at 149, while CNN’s war casualty database has a tally of 150).
Errazuriz had never heard the statistic before. He was shocked as well to learn the number of suicides rivaled the number of U.S. troop deaths in Afghanistan that year.
He first announced the statistic on Facebook, but it elicited little response so “he bought a can of black paint and decided to ‘post’ the news in the real world,” his website explains.
With a ladder and a paintbrush, he proceeded to make a black stroke for every dead soldier, categorizing them by the branch of the armed forces in which they served.
A passerby stops to study Errazuriz's statement.
“A lot of people stopped to read the mural and were immediately impressed by the reality portrayed,” Errazuriz said.
“I tried to explain that I simply wished to create a physical image that could capture people's imagination, creating awareness of the current numbers in death, war and the infinite discrepancy between the resources and energies destined to fight and protect soldiers at war versus the energies invested in protecting their mental health
and stability.”
Suicide in the U.S. military is a growing concern, and the recent “startling increase” in the U.S. Army prompted a $50 million study last year by four universities and the National Institute of Mental Health, according to Columbia University.
Dr. Robert Ursano, head of the project and director of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences' Center for Traumatic Stress Studies in Bethesda, Maryland, told Psychiatric News last year that the study – the largest-ever military study of suicide and mental health – represented the first partnership of its kind.
“This is a unique joining of the Department of Defense and the NIMH to address an issue of national security that will also build tools with peacetime implications,” Ursano said.
Errazuriz routinely finds unorthodox means to present his art and last year worked with 40 volunteers to plant 1,100 crosses in a waterside park in Brooklyn to illustrate the number of people who die in New York City each week.
He’s also created furniture and sculptures and designed clothing, including sexy dresses made of latex gloves or zippers and a fur coat made of teddy bears.
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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They should stop letting just anyone join the military then, any patriotic self loving american wouldnt commit suicide, everyone has problems in life, isnt the military supposed to teach you to suck it up and deal with pressure pain loss.... come on people.... people who commit suicide were weak minded from the start and shoulda been weeded out long before it happened, thats the cold hard truth.
Every suicide is a tragedy and should be prevented. But the statistic is misleading.
The number of service members in combat is a small percentage of the overall military. But the suicide stat is for the overall military. So the likelihood of a service member engaged in combat dying from combat is actually higher, not lower, than the chance of a service member dying by suicide, even if the number of overall service members dying from suicide is higher.
This man had a great idea.The troops are trying to be heard everyone should listen!!Our military has always been their for us what about us being there to help our military.
A similar project has been going on for months before this man started his project. Please visit this link for more information: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=136662789681633&v=wall&ref=ts
Only 304.
The pope is an antichrist then the catholics follow him so I do not look 2 them 4 advice
@ST http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/soldiers+?r=75
My brother killed himself on base in Georgia. I think maybe he had psychological issues that should have been addressed earlier. Sadly, though, it's easy to play "non-suicidal" and telling people that you are having psychological issues often comes with the stigma of "not being right in the head". No case of suicide is cut-and-dry. Being in the military alone doesn't cause one to commit suicide, being in a broken home doesn't cause one to commit suicide, having psychological issues alone doesn't cause one to commit suicide. The issues are thick, opaque and hard to untangle. But every person who dies is a brother or a sister or a father, mother, cousin or friend that will forever be missed and will forever leave a whole in someone's life.
this mural was news like 4-6 months ago. Late again: It's CNN
Wow
The another cost saving Bush-Cheney plan, work the soldiers to death, get your money's worth out of the army you have.
This is very powerful art it speaks of the truth that those of us in the military hear about all the time. Yes we have a million briefings on this stuff every month. But I want all of you out there that say why not just seek help or find some help that it is not that easy. We are taught to be tough and taught to be strong men and women. We are of the blood of Americans that one percent that stand up and fight for the very freedoms that we all share.
Interesting, but what is the suicide rate of soldiers vs. a similar demographic in the private sector? Is it actually higher, in which case concern is warranted, or does it match up? The article doesn't say.
So, all a person's life means to this alleged artist is that he or she is simply a mark on a wall?
I just wanted to clear up one thing someone said earlier. That "going to Iraq or Afghan is the cause of the numbers being so high." Thats not true. Out of the 22 Marines that commited suicide before July of this year, 9 had never deployed. 4 killed themselves in theatre, and 9 post-deloyment.
And its not just "the brass" turning their backs. Its happening through out the ranks. In the ranks of E1- E3 there were 9, E4-E5 had 9, E6-E9 had 2, and O1-O10 had 2.
Want some more numbers? The suicide rate in the Marine Corps is 24 for every 100,000. In the civilian sector its 20 per 100,00. So realize that suicide is not just a military problem. And the fact that those numbers are so close, even considering the increased amount of stress and hardships that service members deal with vice civilians, shows that we have been working on the issue and its produced results.
Every case, every person is different and deal with things diffrently. You cant make blanket statements saying "x,y, and z are the causes of suicides."