This image of a World War I soldier with bayonet at the ready, was painted on the cinder block wall of the American Legion Post’s building, along with figures of soldiers from other wars. I moved in on the figure, and echoed it's “L” shaped form by comparing it to the “L” shaped form of the wall itself, and the softly focused steps beyond. I remove all traces of color by converting the image to black and white, abstracting the soldier and the steps and stressing instead the play of light on the roughly textured wall that now divides the image. Both walls and wars divide us, and I use the rough, stark nature of this wall as a symbol of the nature of war – a painful, divisive and costly barrier. A memorial tribute to soldiers of the past becomes, through my own lens, an image questioning the validity of war itself as a means for settling our differences.