Biography

Jessica Hines's shortlisted projects

My Brother’s War #undefined
2012

Jessica Hines

My Brother’s War

In 1967 my brother, Gary, was sent to war in Viet Nam by the US Army. Because our parents were not well and Gary was our caretaker, I was sent to live with relatives. On November 4th, my eighth birthday, he arrived in Qui Nhom, Viet Nam. I rarely saw him again until I was in my teens. Upon returning home, Gary was classifi ed as having a “service connected nervous condition” that we later came to know as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. My pre-war brother, a normal and well-adjusted person had become, according to the US Veteran’s Administration, 50% disabled. He took his own life ten years later. Twenty-fi ve years after his death, I was compelled to fi nd answers to long unanswered questions. I contacted Gary’s wartime friends, attended his company’s reunion, visited his grave for the fi rst time and the house where he died, discovered he had fallen in love, and twice traveled to Viet Nam to retrace Gary’s “footsteps” using his photographs and letters to serve as my guides. Among other discoveries made over this past year, I found Gary’s missing negatives from the war. I continue to make images in order to better understand what took place so long ago. Through the use of my camera, I share my discoveries and in the process, fi nally grieve, accept, share and slowly come to understand the brother I never really knew.