In preparation for my paintings, I usually examine both historical and contemporary photographs depicting war, conflicts and other politically charged subjects. Although photographs are generally seen as "evidence" or "proof" of a past moment, they never manage to fully reproduce all attributes of an occurring event; nor do they present a reliable source. My paintings attempt to reveal photography as a medium with limitations. Therefore, I am concerned with the question of what remains unrepresentable and how this constraint affects photography, digital media and their translation into painting.

This image exemplifies what I describe as the "translation" of photographs into paintings. It is based an the infamous Rosenthal photograph (I used the uncropped version) which depicts the raising of the US flag on the fourth day of the Iwo Jima invasion in 1945. The painting's title refers to the photograph's initial label (inscribed on the negative by Rosenthal) "Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, 1945". Its measurements are 40" x 35" (oil on canvas) and it was finished by the end of 2007 as part of the series "War Landscapes."