Andrew Hazewinkel

Subtle shifts of the focal plane across two successive negatives reveal the facial detail of Warrior B, one of two heroically scaled bronze male figures that occupy a sculpturally stylistic position between the end of the Archaic and the beginning of the Classical periods in Mediterranean antiquity.

The Riace Bronzes (art-historically known as Warrior A and Warrior B), typically stand proudly erect in purpose-built spaces at the National Archaeological Museum of Reggio Calabria in Italy. However, these images were captured during the filming of the video work Warrior A Warrior B as the figures lay side by side, whilst undergoing material analysis and conservation processes, in provisional structures, that to me resembled hospital gurneys.

The horizontality of the figure, the intimacy between the camera and the exposed face, and the triage like qualities of the setting coalesced in my mind to imbue this heroic figure with a sense of exposed vulnerability. Given this figure’s designated name Warrior B, it is not difficult to imagine him as soldier of a contemporary conflict injured and awaiting treatment in a makeshift field hospital.



^{Photographic permission courtesy Ministero per i Beni e le Attivita Culturali Soperintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Calabria.}