Vietnam Memorial (Letter - "Why Didn't You Come Home?")
Artist
Salvatore (Sal) Lopes
(American, b. 1943)
CultureAmerican
DateNovember 1986
MediumCibachrome print
DimensionsOverall, Image: 8 1/2 x 12 7/8 in. (21.6 x 32.7 cm)
Overall, Support: 10 15/16 × 14 in. (27.8 × 35.6 cm)
Overall, Mat: 15 15/16 × 20 in. (40.5 × 50.8 cm)
Overall, Support: 10 15/16 × 14 in. (27.8 × 35.6 cm)
Overall, Mat: 15 15/16 × 20 in. (40.5 × 50.8 cm)
Credit LineGift of the artist
Object number91.34
Not on view
DescriptionThis is a cibachrome print photograph. A loose leaf sheet of paper, pinned on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall with a flower stem wedged through the crack, reads: "Damn you, brother - why didn't you / come back? I want you back, but not / in a box. I still love you, and I'd love / you if you came back in one piece [], or / your arms or legs or mind gone. I wasn't / that young when you died because I / cried too. God has you now but I want / you too, so damn you for not com- / ing back." Names of fallen soldiers are visible in the background.Exhibition History"The Wall: Photographed by Sal Lopes," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., November 3, 1987 - January 10, 1988. Published ReferencesSal Lopes, intro by Michael Norman, _The Wall: Images and Offerings from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial_ (New York: Collins Publishers, Inc., 1987), 10-11.
