When Photographers are Blinded, Eagles' Wings are Clipped

The title of this 2011 print invokes press freedom and the American eagle as state symbol, suggesting an image in which the wounding of journalism is figured as the wounding of national myth. The technical mix combines four processes — etching, aquatint, drypoint, and wood relief — across copper and wood matrices that must print in registration. Etching and aquatint provide line and tonal area on metal; drypoint adds the soft halo of displaced burr; wood relief contributes a coarser, carved register that sits visually distinct from the engraved marks. The result is a layered surface that visually enacts the title's argument about composite damage. The print belongs to a small group from 2009–2011 in which Heyman addresses American political imagery directly rather than through portraiture, and follows from his earlier Iraqi detention work in extending the question of testimony to those who record it. The eagle motif recurs across several prints from this period, treated each time through a different combination of techniques.