Triptychs: A 'Nam Marine's Now and Then

Composed of riffs on the forms of haiku (extended haiku), memoir (micro memoir) and photography (photosculpture), this electronic book is composed of 51 panels grouped in sets of three as 17 triptychs. To form each triptych, these folding-in-upon-center panels are arranged as two tablets of writing that enclose an image, the inner core, a visual representation of the writer’s thoughts. Together, each triptych is a communiqué formed of written and visual art created by collaboration of writer and artist.

Syor’s verse and prose, informed by a year spent in combat decades ago, a year that resulted in a changed human being and two drastically changed countries – America and Vietnam – is complemented by the work of Henry Avignon, a remarkable young artist possessed of genius in both visual and literary forms. Each art panel is a gestural abstract interpretation, a photosculpture, a melding of photography and manipulation by the artist using chemical processes, a tablet holding a flash of reality like a scene lit up in noir by a photographer’s strobe.

Each of these 17 triptychs enlightens the reader while engaging every emotion. As a unity, these triptychs represent a Sum of Experience – that of the warrior, the veteran, the family member – a measure of existence that only this collaboration between writer and artist, between warrior and military family member could produce.