Belfast
1990—91
Photographer Stuart Griffiths was a paratrooper in Northern Ireland from the late 1980s toearly 1990s. Born in 1972, this reckons Griffiths would have been only sixteen or seventeenwhen he began service, The Myth of the Airborne Warrior then is the sure-shot memory ofsomeone who was acting at being an adult.
In her novel Berg Ann Quin writes, “Threading experience through imaginative material, actingout fictitious parts, or choosing a stale-mate for compromise… But remember society owesyou nothing, therefore, doing yourself in isn’t the answer, no reward for the resentment, andhow would I know if it had proved freedom?” Griffiths’ book is in some personal way a “rewardfor the resentment” of time spent in the military, his photographs embody the hasty timbre ofvacational opportunism, the macho jollity of a stag party, the acrid tang of adolescence, andyet, they endure to be recuperated into a document capturing Griffiths’ frustration, regret anddesire to remember properly.
Maria Fusco Art Monthly, No. 352
Dec/Jan 2011—2012
1990—91
Photographer Stuart Griffiths was a paratrooper in Northern Ireland from the late 1980s toearly 1990s. Born in 1972, this reckons Griffiths would have been only sixteen or seventeenwhen he began service, The Myth of the Airborne Warrior then is the sure-shot memory ofsomeone who was acting at being an adult.
In her novel Berg Ann Quin writes, “Threading experience through imaginative material, actingout fictitious parts, or choosing a stale-mate for compromise… But remember society owesyou nothing, therefore, doing yourself in isn’t the answer, no reward for the resentment, andhow would I know if it had proved freedom?” Griffiths’ book is in some personal way a “rewardfor the resentment” of time spent in the military, his photographs embody the hasty timbre ofvacational opportunism, the macho jollity of a stag party, the acrid tang of adolescence, andyet, they endure to be recuperated into a document capturing Griffiths’ frustration, regret anddesire to remember properly.
Maria Fusco Art Monthly, No. 352
Dec/Jan 2011—2012
