Jessica Hines uses her camera to tell the story of a soldier & his sister
My Brother’s War tells the story of a soldier, Gary Hines, and his younger sister’s search to
understand the circumstances surrounding his life with Post Traumatic Stress — and his
untimely death by his own hand ten years after returning home from the Vietnam war.
Gary’s letters, photographs, and his personal effects found in a small box, served as guides to
Hines who traveled twice to Viet Nam, attended a reunion of his comrades, called army buddies
decades after the war, and visited the home where he died. Finding handwritten declarations of
love written by Gary’s Vietnamese fiancé, Hines also uncovered a surprising and mysterious
love story.
Using her brother’s photographs as starting points allowed Hines to see the landscapes that
shaped his experiences of trauma and to create the illusion of memory. Using shadows,
magnification, and reflections, Hines met the challenge of discovery and understanding by
creating images, with limited means, of things that no longer exist.
This work is the often untold story of loss, grief, hope, healing, love, and living in the aftermath
of war—both for a veteran and for his family and friends. My Brother’s War makes reference to
families worldwide that have lost and are presently losing loved ones to war. Hines’ work seeks
to inspire, as the only alternative, a peaceful coexistence.
Jessica Hines, uses the camera’s inherent qualities to explore illusion and to suggest truths that underlie the visible world. At the core of Hines’ work lies and inquisitive nature inspired by
personal memory, experience, and the unconscious mind. Hines has won many awards
including the Kolga Award, the Pollux Humanitarian Documentary Grant, Lens Culture
International Exposure Award, and the Kuala Lumpur International Photoaward. Her work has
been extensively exhibited and published throughout the world in North and South America,
throughout Asia, Europe, and Australasia.
My Brother’s War has been published by Dewi Lewis Publishing in Stockport, England, and will be available in November 2021. For more information, visit: https://www.jessicahines.com
Posted in Art