My Brother’s War tells the story of a soldier, Gary Hines, and his younger sister’s search to understand the circumstances surrounding his life with Post Traumatic Stress — and his untimely death by his own hand ten years after returning home from war.
Gary’s letters, photographs, and his personal effects found in a small box, served as guides to Hines who travelled twice to Viet Nam, attended a reunion of his comrades, called army buddies decades after the war, and visited the home where he died. Finding handwritten declarations of love written by Gary’s Vietnamese fiancé, Hines also uncovered a surprising and mysterious love story.
Using her brother’s photographs as starting points allowed Hines to see the landscapes that shaped his experiences of trauma and to create the illusion of memory. Using shadows, magnification, and reflections, Hines met the challenge of discovery and understanding by creating images, with limited means, of things that no longer exist.
This work is the forbidden untold story of loss, grief, hope, healing, love, and living in the aftermath of war—both for a veteran and for his family and friends. My Brother’s War makes reference to families worldwide that have lost and are presently losing loved ones to war. Hines’ work seeks to inspire, as the only alternative, a peaceful coexistence.
