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PORTRAIT - Eugene Richards

War is Personal: the book

It was one of last year’s most powerful, talked about exhibitions. War is Personal by Eugene Richards chronicles the stories of 15 US military veterans after their return from Iraq. We see them physically or emotionally damaged, the way their families have suffered too.

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The black and white photos are moving and disturbing but wouldn’t be complete without the stories behind the pictures.

“It was always meant to be a book,” Richards tells me as we walk through the streets of old Perpignan after an evening screening of War is Personal. The photos were taken quickly but needed to be put in context.

The book didn’t find a publisher in the States. “And it’s been turned down by most American magazines,” says Richards.

“We went through six publishers. Each wanted to do it but said 'if we can’t we reserve the right to change it.' In the end we gave up and said we’d do it ourselves.”

Festival director Jean-Francois Leroy backed the project, paying for 600 copies in advance. Getty paid for 300. “So suddenly we had enough money to print,” he says.

Among the many powerful photos that linger in the mind is that of young Sgt Princess Crystal Dawn Samuels lying peacefully in her coffin.

Among this series of photos is the face of Sgt Princess Crystal Dawn Samuels, who lay peacefully in her coffin
Among this series of photos is the face of Sgt Princess Crystal Dawn Samuels, who lay peacefully in her coffin A Ravera

Richards says the day he went to the funeral was one of the hardest and most surreal of his time spent on War is Personal.

“I had to go to one funeral but as a photographer you don’t belong. You’re the last person who should be there, even though you’re doing your job.”

He still doesn’t know why the family agreed to let him into the chapel. A lot of journalists were trying to get in and weren’t even allowed to stand outside the church.

“Maybe it’s because I didn’t ask,” Richards says in his customary quiet, modest way.

“I came in and they just opened the coffin. It was very dark and my hands were shaking. I was upset and maybe it’s the word 'princess', but it reminded me of the captured princess in fairytales or princesses inside a jewellry box.

"It’s a coffin but it looked like a jewel box, especially from a distance. And I have this image that she might even sit up - you get that kind of illusion.”

Richards just had time to take the pictures before an angry family member insisted he leave.

“I didn’t want to say the mother had given permission because I didn’t want to cause a family argument. So I walked away and that was the end of the day.”

There’s been no further contact with Princess’s mother, something Richards regrets. All the others directly concerned by the book have reacted, and largely positively.

“We may never hear from her. It’s heartbreaking because I’ve got these pictures of her beautiful daughter. In fact you can’t see how beautiful she was because she’s had all this facial reconstruction done, but she looked exactly like her mother which is kind of unnerving.”

Now that the last US combat troops have pulled out of Iraq, anti-war activist Richards says he’s happy. But the story is far from over.

“Since 9/11 our military expenditure has doubled. We spend more on our military than all the rest of the world combined and it worries me that people will think this is a closure.

"They’re not even talking about the damage that’s been done in Iraq. So I’m happy that chapter is ending but worried we’re going to put behind us the cause of the war.”

War is Personal is published by Many Voices Press in association with The Nation Institute.

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