Artist's new book opposes Iraq war

Photographs capture news coverage of conflict

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Southeast area resident Diane Bush is protesting the war in Iraq in the most powerful way she knows how: through the lens of her camera.

"I'm hoping my book and the work of other artists can contribute to bringing our soldiers home," Bush said.

She collected a series of revamped photos for her new book, "Warheads: Photographs by Diane Bush." The Guggenheim Hermitage Museum store in the Venetian will host a book signing for Bush at 2 p.m. Sunday.

In 1991, Bush used a macro lens and various angles to capture photos of television news anchors who were giving daily reports on the Gulf War. The result was a series of 43 photos -- one for each day of the war, Bush said -- that depicted large-headed anchors and newscasters.

The series, titled Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Had Cable? acted as a commentary on media censorship during the Gulf War, Bush said.

When fighting in Iraq began in 2003, Bush said she saw parallels to the 1990 Gulf War.

"Although recently, things are starting to change, it seems to be very lacking in any real coverage," she said. "Just like with the Gulf War ... you're watching a lot of talking heads: the TV anchors."

Bush said she took the original prints she had shot from the Gulf War, but she needed a new angle in her work.

"I knew I wanted to do something that conveyed the violence. It was a more violent war. I had to do something to the prints to convey that," she said.

Bush tried a few other ideas before deciding to splatter the photos with potassium ferricyanide, or photo bleach. She said she is not aware of anyone using bleach on color prints.

"As the bleach etched into the surface of the prints, it released these colors that we think of as fire colors," Bush said. "It worked in my favor. I think people can understand that these explosions are violent and destructive."

Bush said the idea is that no one sees the bodies of troops or the destruction in the photos, just talking heads.

Bush said the use of bleach was exciting because she was not sure what the result would be.

"It's exciting for me as an artist to have that lack of control that I have through trial and error," she said.

Bush said she has been taking photos for about 40 years. Her first experience with photography occurred at age 17, when she went on her first trip away from home.

Bush first started photographing the television screen in 1987. She said she is happy to shoot the television because she doesn't need a studio with expensive lights.

"I really like the way the pixels that make up the picture have a certain texture that is unique to the TV screen and gives a unique look to the photographs," she said.

Bush moved to Las Vegas with her husband after growing up in Buffalo, N.Y., and living in London. Las Vegas' climate was a welcome change to dreary London and the harsh winters of Buffalo, she said.

When she moved here about 10 years ago, Bush said she taught part time at CCSN, networked with other local artists and got a job with Clark County, where she still works as a cultural program supervisor at the Winchester Cultural Center, 3130 S. McLeod Drive.

Bush also helped develop the Las Vegas arts district.

"I am one of many people who had a vision of an arts district before it was actually called that. I think myself and a group of people feel we are pioneers. It's still growing and evolving," she said.

Clark County cultural program supervisor Patrick Gaffey has known Bush since she moved to Las Vegas. He said he admires her work with the television screen.

"She came to Las Vegas with an already fully developed reputation," Gaffey said. "She's done a lot of shows in Britain and New York. She's well-known, and for good reasons."

Gaffey said "Warheads" has drawn strong reactions from those who have seen it.

"I haven't seen too many artists do this kind of thing. It seems to be getting a lot of attention," he said.

Marty Walsh, owner of the Trifecta Gallery, 103 E. Charleston Blvd., said she loves Bush's political work.

"She is one of my favorite local artists because there's a touch of humor in the darkness," Walsh said. "She has that ability to look broadly at things that when she does political artwork, she has that experience of being able to look at the whole picture."

Walsh said Bush is a strong figure in the local art community.

"She was one of the people who made the first footprint of the local art scene," Walsh said. "She was steadfast and she just kept on with a smile."

Currently, Bush has restarted an old project she began in 1989 called "Global Swarming." Bush once again focused on television as her subject, taking photos of the weather and nature channels.

"I change the color of the imagery by adjusting the color on the TV set to really weird, garish colors, instead of doing it digitally. I'm using the TV as my color pallet," she said.