SPOILS - Brian Van Reet
She is the most dangerous thing around. The best soldiers are like her, just on the far side of childhood.
In Spoils the Iraq war is seen through the eyes of combatants from both sides, chillingly brought together by battle. Nineteen-year-old Specialist Cassandra Wigheard, on her first deployment since joining the U.S. Army two years earlier, is primed for war. For Abu al-Hool, a jihadist since the days of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, war is wearing thin. Two decades of fighting – and the new wave of super-radicalised fighters joining the ranks in the wake of the September 11 attacks – have left him questioning his commitment to the struggle.
This is a haunting novel of life and death. It seemed perfectly matched to the image of the burning butterfly, which is both beautiful and terrifying at the same time.
The burning butterfly was photographed by YBA, Mat Collishaw. Known for his provocative imagery, this photograph was part of a series that shows butterflies crushed, burned and smashed. They are seen at the moment of their deaths. The images have been enlarged into photographic prints of great smears of colour.
