Untitled

The piece presents textual fragments likely drawn from aviation manuals, flight logs, or cinematic scripts involving fighter jets. By stripping away visual context, Banner redirects attention to the language that constructs military narratives. The absence of images forces engagement with the dry, technical vocabulary that normalizes violence, exposing how media shapes perception of warfare.

Produced via lithography, the work relies on the chemical repulsion of grease and water on a flat stone surface, yielding crisp, uniform text. The use of thin paper and folding transforms the print into a portable, intimate object. Minimalist in form, it rejects decorative elements, prioritizing clarity and material simplicity to mirror the austerity of its subject matter.

Created for exhibition in 2002, this lithograph emerged during a period when Banner was intensively researching military aviation in popular culture. It was shown alongside other works in group exhibitions focused on war, media, and representation. Its compact, non-hanging format was intentional, distinguishing it from conventional gallery prints and inviting direct, personal engagement.

Banner’s practice in the early 2000s engaged with the saturation of fighter aircraft imagery in film and news media. This work responds to the gap between the glamorous portrayal of combat and the clinical language used to describe it. By isolating textual remnants, she critiques how language sanitizes violence, aligning with broader conceptual art traditions that question representation.

The work contributes to a sustained body of research into the aesthetics of militarized language. Its format, folded, textual, non-decorative, has influenced later artists exploring the materiality of information. It remains a quiet but persistent example of how print can function as both archive and critique, resisting spectacle in favor of contemplative engagement.