Seafore Perl
MFA Thesis Project (Iowa State University)
Title: artIfacs
Seafore Perl’s RL persona was a Green Beret medic who was wounded in March 1970. He served in the Central Highlands in the tri-border area (where Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam meet) and also down in the Delta area near the Cambodian border.
This work seeks to explore the effects of wartime memories and experiences on artwork. The gallery contains both digital and traditional (oil paintings) images. Also, in the back of the gallery is an arrangement of the artist’s virtual still life objects.
The dome contains images and sounds from a long ago war. There are wounded and dying soldiers surrounded by anguished comrades screaming for the medic. The air is filled with smoke and haze. Walking along the pathway triggers explosions and the sounds of small arms fire. Around the edge of the dome haunting PTSD images stare and glow. The work is but a small taste of what was experienced during a seven month period until being wounded.
Though this utilizes a game engine to create the virtual experience, it is not a game, any more than war is a game. War is serious business with hideous injuries inflicted upon the human body. Medics in particular often have these images embedded in their psyches. For some, there is no escaping these nightmares.