This week I note that many collagists are moved by the theme of war. Some of their collages are profoundly expressive. I wasn't able to find a symbolic representation of my strong emotion. My two collages this week are simple, literal representations of my response to war. Not just the war in Ukraine, but every war.
There are no winners in war. There is no taming war. Once begun, it has a will of its own. How many times in history has a war begun and the consequences far outstripped the expectations of those who started it?
Belgian Refugees at Start of WWI, 1914
Image credit: Unknown. Public domain
Who dies in war? Soldiers, of course. Many others though, so called collateral damage. In both WWI and WWII the number of civilian deaths exceeded the military deaths, though no one can tell exactly how many people died in those wars.
WWI saw "approximately" 9.7 million military personnel and 10 million civilians killed. Add another 20 million for casualties.
Estimates of death in WWII vary widely according to different sources, but every source places the number of civilian deaths higher than the number of military deaths. One source, sponsored by the U. S. government, places the number of military deaths at over 15 million and the number of civilian deaths at over 38 million. Some would say those civilian death are underestimated, and place the number of civilian deaths in China alone at 50 million.
Memorial for Nanjing Massacre, China, Sino-Japanese War
Image credit:范适安@www.cchere.net Used under CC 3.0 license.
Death is not the only toll. War costs money. It has been suggested that if the kings of France had not drained the treasury in costly imperial wars, there may never have been a French Revolution. It has been argued that WWI was the death knell for Imperial Russia,, and it led to abdication of the Kaiser in Germany.
As is always the case in the LMAC weekly collage challenge, the process began with a template photo offered by @shaka.
This week's photo was beautiful, but all I could think of was war as a theme.
@shaka's photo
My first collage shows a desolate landscape, stripped of life by war. The graveyard in the background and the monks in the foreground remember the dead. As they remember, war continues and the symbol of death on the water suggests that death is still hungry for more victims.
The second collage shows lilies that grow on the battleground where soldiers have fallen. The rifle and helmet are somber reminders of the extinguished lives that have nourished the flowers. Children play in the lilies as war continues and offers the promise of more death.
For my collages I borrowed from my LMAC colleagues who contributed pictures to LIL, LMAC's image library:
The Monks were a gift from @redheadpei.
The Rifle was a gift from @muelli.
The Fire was a gift from @muelli
Death was a gift of @seckorama
The Boat on which death floats was another gift from @redheadpei.
The Gravestones were taken from a picture I contributed to LIL some time ago.
The Artillery image was contributed also by me to LIL a few weeks ago.
Sources outside of LIL
Lily field Vitaliy Gavrushchenko on Unsplash
Helmet AlLes on Pixabay
Children Robert Collins on Unsplash
LIL and LMAC
LMAC is the wonderful collage contest started by @shaka a couple of years ago. Every week bloggers on Hive come together and offer their interpretation of a template photo published by @shaka. Some of the participants are professional artists. Many are not. I am not. And yet, when we make our collages we do become artists for at least a while. There are handsome prizes. I don't compete for these. I just have fun.
Rules and regulations for the contest may be found here, on @shaka's blog.
LIL is an extension of LMAC. The image library is available to everyone in the Hive community. Anyone can borrow an image from our library, which has in excess of 6,000 pictures now. Anyone on Hive can contribute to the library. Contributions are not only welcome, but are supported by the community if rules and procedures are followed. These may be found here.
Thank You
I thank @shaka for leading the LMAC community. I thank @quantumg for his amazing coding skills and hard work. I thank @mballesteros for her hard work and creativity on our LMAC team. And, I thank everyone who participates in the community. People and participation are the essence of LMAC.
Everyone loses in wars... You sum it up perfectly. Let's hope for the best in the meantime, as hope is still something allowed.
I usually like to comment your collages. But the ones you made this week... I think I will just watch them and stay quiet. I am not looking forward to the next few days at all. Life must go on... and I only want to stay home with the family and enjoy every single moment. Of course this won't happen. We will all go to work and the kids to school.
My heart is with Ukrainian people fighting for their survival and with all those who try to raise against Putin.
I wake up this morning to more grim news from Ukraine.
Do what we can to support Ukraine, as you have. I'm going over to Twitter now to express solidarity. Weak gesture, but what can I do? Voices together may make a difference.
Reading your blog, I was reminded of this image I came across on instagram yesterday...
https://mobile.twitter.com/Yuumei_Art/status/1497701320668504066
Hello dear @ruth-girl,
I saw that woman on the Internet. She may have been the inspiration for the lilies in my collage. Not consciously, but the mind is funny. It takes over and gives us symbols to express our feelings.
Thanks for that link. Instagram is foreign territory to me. I never would have seen this.
We can all hope the madness stops before the catastrophe grows worse. I appreciate your visit and your comment. 🌷🌸🌹🌺
Buenas noches excelente trabajo🙏🙏
Thank you, @zenai. You have a gentle heart. This is our greatest strength, love and kindness.
Peace and health to you.
This stirs alot of emotions. I love both collages, brilliant expression. Seeing how intentional you are about every item used makes is great.
Weldone and we can only Hope that humanity and peace is restored all around the world.
Much love and peace your way❤️🗺️❤️
Hello @queenstarr,
Your heartfelt words mean a lot to me. You are correct. Every piece was intentional. These were hard collages to make. I had to feel the war and that wasn't fun.
Let us all hope that sanity and mercy prevail, in Ukraine and every other place on this earth where war is waged. So many people suffer from war right now in so many parts of the world.
Thank you for the peace and love. May you and yours experience the same. We all have to conscious and motivated for that to happen.
With respect and affection,
AG
Absolutely and Amen🙏Much love your way. You're a sweetheart❤️🤗❤️
I like seeing the joy of children. Wars are not only destruction of cities, but a deep wound that is difficult to treat. I like the second collage, great work👍
Thank you, @worldstories for your positive comment. I like the children also. It was hard to choose which to put on top. Terrible times when I have to make such collages that focus on death.
I hope there is peace wherever you are. Be well.
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You expressed the feelings of this war exactly .A.G., as most people feel right now. I’m sure most of the Russian people are upset by this invasion of Ukraine. I can’t imagine where it will end. Is Putin the antichrist who will March across Europe If not stopped now?
I love the lineup of Buddhist monks in your first collage. The power of Prayers will help in unforeseen ways. 🙏
March has been roaring like a lion today with more snow. Will someone tell the Nature goddess that it is March already and bring on some sunny days?
Hope your day is going splendidly, my friend. 💕
Hello my friend. I could not make a collage. Every time I tried the war kept coming back so I went with it. These are pure expressions of how I felt when I made them.
Terrible to think about. I can't turn away and yet it is horrible to watch and listen to. Thank you for those monks. You have some of the best pictures on LIL. I think that's because a lot of your pictures have heart :)
March has been kind to us, so far. Sorry for the rough weather there, but at least spring is close.
It's always a pleasure to see you here. That makes my day splendid.
Peace health and many sunny days ahead for you my friend @redheadpei
War is terrible and in this day and age when the world should be united. We connect with Russian people on Hive, along with every other country. From what I understand, the Russian people are not allowed to speak against this invasion of Ukraine. It’s a horrific situation and both sides are suffering loss of lives. Putin needs to stop this war pronto.
Thanks for your kind words, A.G. on my donations to LIL. You have submitted wonderful images to the image library and they are used regularly.
I think Nostradamus predicted a war in 2022 and after it is over the world will have 1000 years of peace. I hope we are around to see this. 😊 💛
🌷🌸🌹🌺
How could I have missed this gem of history, once when I was a teenager I became obsessed with the history of WWII, I read several books and watched almost all the famous movies on this topic.
And the truth is that I could not believe how someone could be so evil as to start a war, now I realize that everything is economic that the only thing that moves a war is the money that is obtained with it. The ambition of tyrannical governments has no limits.
I think we will continue to see this theme in our collages in the next round. I loved your second collage, I just hope that hope and peace will reign in Ukraine and in all countries. Hugs!
You were obsessed with the history of WWII? I am also a fan of history. I studied it in college and taught it in high school. It's nice to meet a fellow history buff. I do believe in the saying: those who don't know history are bound to repeat it.
The motivation for war is economic, and it is ego. I think that person in Russia is a megalomaniac. As was Hitler, as have been so many leaders we read about. I do think they have a pathology and I think a recent leader of the U. S. suffered from the same disorder (unnamed).
The war theme is inescapable. Hard to move on. I hope you are well my friend, @mballesteros and that your family is well. Thank you very much for your visit and kind words.
You are quite right in saying that these war leaders are megalomaniacs, and the worst thing is that a large part of the population is the one that makes them believe it. The same thing happened and continues to happen in my country with those leaders.
The rulers in any country should never last more than 5 years, I think that being in a leadership position for a long time twists their brains.😠
Have a nice afternoon my dear friend.🤗
💙🌼🌼🌼💙
"War Is a Willful, Ravenous Beast" hits the nail on the head. This beast has been raging in mankind since the earliest days. However, we still seem to fear it very limited. I often wonder whether being combative is just our innate nature or a curable disease. Honestly, I tend to think it's actually our nature. All our openly accessible knowledge and social networking still fails to cure us from the beast.
Thank you for your peace promoting and very informative post. I like this emotional, cautionary symbolism in your collage very much. Great animations!
Peace and !LUV to you!
Hello my friend @quantumg,
I think we are all heartsick at the tragedy that is unfolding before our eyes. And then I think of all the parts of the world where people are being shelled and bombed right now. It is numbing. I agree. It is in our nature. But we are not puppets of nature. We can do better.
The collages were simple because I found myself stripped down to raw emotion, and that's what came out in the pictures.
Thank you for your most generous tip. That warmed my heart, that endorsement. Hoping for peace. Take care my friend.
@quantumg(1/1) gave you LUV.
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Given the current emission rate of LUV pushing 500/day, increases to required LUV levels will likely be forthcoming.