Boy and Girl at U.S. Marines Recruiting Event, Orchard Beach, The Bronx, New York, 2007 by Nina Berman

Spring 2007 Hot Shot Nina Berman just wrapped up a show, Homeland, at the JB Gallery. She's not one to pause for long so it's hard to keep up with her. Yesterday's interview with David Schonauer of America Photo fills us in on some of Nina's recent work, including the image above. It begins:

Each Memorial Day, New York City celebrates Fleet Week. Navy vessels dock on the Hudson River, fighter jets roar overhead, and sailors disembark for shore leave. 'Usually I just shoot them wandering through Times Square,' says photojournalist Nina Berman. In 2007, however, Berman went to Orchard Beach, a park in the Bronx, for what was billed as Marine Day.

'Helicopters flew over and landed, and the soldiers came out with a tarp filled with weapons,' recalls Berman. 'Families gathered, and the Marines painted the kids' faces in camouflage. Little girls and boys were posing with rifles. There was a kind of gangster vibe -- kids saying, 'Hey, this is what they used in Scarface!'

The pictures Berman made that day -- advanced military weaponry in the happy hands of children painted as warriors -- capture a sense of absurdity and danger that often passes unnoticed in the social fabric of post-9/11 America.

Read the rest of the interview here. Nina also recently published the book Homeland that encompasses this work, a project spanning 7 years and the entire country.