These tiny sculptures, created by Dorothy, were designed for a Colorado Springs Gazette article entitled “Casualties of War.” The two-part article in which these toy soldiers were featured focused on a single battalion based at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, who since returning from duty in Iraq had been involved in brawls, beatings, rapes, drunk driving, drug deals, domestic violence, shootings, stabbings, kidnapping and suicides. Returning soldiers were committing murder at a rate 20 times greater than other young American males.
A separate investigation into the high suicide rate among veterans published in the New York Times in October 2010 revealed that three times as many California veterans and active service members were dying soon after returning home than those being killed in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.
The soldiers have been generating a lot of interest in the USA and Canada and the art collective has been contacted by a number of war veterans making them both proud and humble. The toy soldiers were also recently featured in an article in the Irish Times.
Here's a look at the provocative versions of small molded plastic soldiers:
These limited edition figures are now available for purchase in boxed sets for £2,000 each here
Casualties of War
Box set of 4 plastic moulded figurines with bases
7cm high