The first national military cemetery on the west coast, the Presidio cemetery dates to the Mexican War of 1849. Overlooking the Golden Gate, it contains 30,000 graves. (You can see a more descriptive image of it in my travel archive at http://www.worldisround.com/edit/new/399029/photo13.html )
In this image, however, I show much less and try to say more through symbolism. The mass of grass defines the earth that holds the bodies of those who have died – many of them in the eight wars fought by the United States since 1849. The two lines of stones on the edges create a frame for the row of stones that runs through the center of the image. A series of dark shadows emerge from this central row of gravestones, symbolically extending a sense of loss from each and every grave. All three rows roll over a ridge and then vanish, implying that wars do not end. They will always be with us.