Conflict Deaths (1915-Present)

21 May 2011

In a strange juxtaposition of imagery, this photo uses fake blood and kitchen containers to visualize 38 million deaths from various conflicts. Overall, I really like the concept, but from the way the objects are arranged and the angle of the photograph (with the blood taking up only the lower 20% of the photo), they visually seem small to me. Also, I don’t quite get the “World Cuisine” title, despite the food/cooking metaphor.

4 Responses to Conflict Deaths (1915-Present)

frank jacobs

May 21st, 2011 at 14:26

Imaginative, gut-wrenching, brilliant in every way. Jonathan Swift would be proud.

Max Winter Osterhaus

May 22nd, 2011 at 01:11

yeah, good idea, but really confusing. Really tough to line up the name of the event with the object and since the volumes are in diff containers, it’s tough to compare.

chenz

June 7th, 2011 at 04:30

really interesting idea, but:
– not complete at all. WWII alone resulted in 50-70 million deaths, and only a small fraction is included. The small graph in the corner says that 160 million deaths are not visualized but it’s hard to see.
– visualizing in terms of volume makes it really hard to compare different conflicts, and having different containers makes it even harder.
– the impact of conflicts may be measured better in terms of the % of deaths over the population, instead of the total number of deaths.

Still, really informative. I am surprised at how bloody the Korean War was. I didn’t know that.

chet

October 17th, 2011 at 22:43

1. i think the title is a reference to the phrase “a taste for blood.”
2. and yes, this would’ve been much more effective if they were at least lined up next to each other.

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