Perceiving Chameleons

Simon Menner, from the series Camouflage.
Sniper under the left side of the birch tree.
© Simon Menner 2010 www.simonmenner.com
Perceiving Chameleons
At first sight, Simon Menner’s series Camouflage
are just landscapes, but on each photo, a wellcamouflaged German Bundeswehr sniper team
aims at the photographer and thus the viewer.
How does the viewer’s perception change with
this knowledge?
Martin Bayer
66
Colonial wars, however, were not fought symmetrically; the warriors would not have had a chance
against these disciplined European forces. Now, the bright red of the English uniforms provided for
excellent targets. British soldiers began to dye their uniforms with mud and tea, and in 1902, all British combat uniforms were issued in khaki, derived from the Persian word for soil.
During the early stages of the First World War, only some cavalry troops (who, also by their social
class, tended to be the most conservative) and the French army still wore brightly coloured uniforms.
They soon had to adapt to the new realities of smokeless powder, quick-firing artillery and precise
rifles. Aerial reconnaissance was available through planes and zeppelins. Photography provided for
visual facts beyond the vague recollection of human observers. Enemy gun emplacements in the
back area could be targeted, and troop concentrations revealed forthcoming offensives. Due to these
technological progresses, camouflage became a necessity.
At first, it was mainly artists such as Lucien-Victor Guirand de Scévola and Paul Klee who painted
guns or other equipment. Franz Marc experimented with painting tarpaulins: “I am curious how
these ‘Kandinskys’ will appear from 2,000 metres”, he wrote, and when Pablo Picasso saw several
artillery pieces passing with painted camouflage patterns, he exclaimed "C'est nous qui avons fait
ça!" – It was us who did this! For some artists, it was a way to avoid frontline service, but it still was
a dangerous duty. The cubist André Mare was wounded when he prepared a fake observation tree,
and many others were killed.
While immobile objects can be blended in its surroundings, this did not work for the navies, as the
steam engines’ thick smoke was visible for dozens of miles. But what cannot be hidden, can still
be made to appear different, especially as before radar had been developed, targeting was a purely
visual task. The proposals of zoologist John Graham Kerr were rejected by the British admiralty. But
the high losses in the German U-boat campaign led to a second approach. Artists such as Norman
Wilkinson and Edward Wadsworth developed so-called dazzle patterns, making it difficult for a
submarine to determine the target’s bearing, its speed, size, overall shape and type. Until June 1918,
some 2,300 British ships had been dazzle-painted. A study by the admiralty, however, came to the
conclusion that the sinking rate was not affected. They still continued to use dazzle, as the crewmembers felt much safer on these ships – camouflage, indeed, is about perception.
membrana
membrana
Carl von Clausewitz said that war is thus not only a genuine chameleon, because it changes its
nature to some extent in each concrete case. When the Prussian general and military philosopher
wrote his unfinished work “On War”, he did not have military camouflage in mind. Back then, the
soldiers wore colourful uniforms, often designed according to their respective national colours.
Standing in linear formation, they fired volleys at close range. Despite the proximity of their enemies,
the colourful uniforms were necessary to distinguish between friend and foe, as the heavy smoke
from all the guns massively reduced the visibility on the battlefields.
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Simon Menner, from the series Camouflage.
Sniper right of the small path. Slightly uphill inside
the small bushes.
© Simon Menner 2010 www.simonmenner.com
Camouflage was adapted by the early air forces, too. The Germans developed lozenge camouflage. It served to
hide the plane on the ground, but also to impede targeting in the air, similar to the motion dazzle of a zebra’s
lines. Pretty soon, successful pilots painted their planes in specific colours, to stand out from the crowd. It was an
integral part of the “flying circus” squadron’s famousness, led by Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen. Later called
the “Red Baron”, he and his red DR-1 triplane became what can only be regarded as an international brand.
Jo Roettger, from the series Landscape & Memory.
Germany, Bavaria, soldiers of the Mountain
Infantry Battalion 232, snipers in camouflage.
© Jo Roettger 2010 www.joroettger.com
For his series “Landscape & Memory” Jo Roettger
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accompanied German mountain troops to their
training grounds and their ISAF mission in
Afghanistan. The snipers in their ghillie suits
seem to be a crossing between man and tree, but
this specific camouflage helps them to blend into
natural environments.
Despite the success of camouflage patterns, political decisions led to the continuation (or in Germany, reintroduction) of unicoloured uniforms after the Second World War. This changed after the Vietnam War, when they
proved to be a distinct disadvantage to the US troops. Today, every nation tends to have its distinct pattern or
colouring, even if they are often based on the German or the later American, British or French developments such
as the US “Woodland”. Specific services such as the air force may have different uniforms, as often do special
forces. Of course, this is less based on different operational needs, but to distinguish its bearers. This led to the
downright epic failure of the US Universal Camo Pattern (UCP), introduced in 2005. In 2004, the US Marine
Corps had issued their first uniforms with the new digital Marine Pattern (MARPAT) – and the army could not
allow the always competing Marines to look cooler. UCP, however, is lacking the contrast needed to dissolve the
soldier’s shape: From a distance, the uniform looks like a solid grey block. Even worse, the intent was to create a
truly universal pattern, for all regions and all seasons. Common sense would have correctly assessed deserts, jungle and urban areas to be more than slightly different in their colours. Since summer 2015, UCP is replaced with
the “Scorpion W2” pattern, bearing resemblance to the contemporary German Flecktarn, but still lacking contrast.
Disruptive pattern camouflage has become synonymous for military kit. Besides its military use, it is also an icon
of its own, a symbol of protest as well as an aspect of fashion. There is camouflage clothing and accessories such
as skirts, bags, tops, shoes and underwear, and all possible everyday goods such as pens, lighters, furniture and
duvet covers. For Oi! skinheads, military clothing was a symbol of strength and of being outside civil mass society,
while US hip hop singers used camouflage as a sign of protest, of self-esteem and urban warfare. During Imperial
Germany, countless boys wore navy uniforms, showing their parents’ support for the Kaiser. Some decades later,
wearing uniform clothing has become a symbol of subversion. As soon as fashion is the main driver, any such
meaning, however, has been reduced to its pure decorative value. But armed forces, too, are subject to such trends.
membrana
membrana
Before and during the Second World War, Germany especially did lots of camouflage research. The results are
still the basis for many contemporary camouflage patterns. The Reichswehr first issued Buntfarbenanstrich in
1931. Literally meaning “varicoloured painting”, it is mainly known as splinter-pattern. After extensive research
for the SS, Georg Schick had developed three main patterns since the mid-1930s. Their original names are lost,
but post-war collectors called the patterns plane tree, palm tree and oak leaf. These patterns were only used for
the Waffen-SS and not the Wehrmacht, pointing to a second important purpose that camouflage can provide, to
form identity and to distinguish oneself. For example, German army tank troops used all-black uniforms, including a skull badge on their caps. Having been taken prisoner, both their uniform’s colour and the skull led to them
being mistaken for SS troops with often fatal consequences. The US army introduced camouflage uniforms for the
Normandy landings, but these were quickly withdrawn again, as its wearers were mistaken for enemy SS troops.
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Martin Bayer, Lee Yongbaek’s Angel Soldier.
© Martin Bayer 2011 www.wartist.org
A perfect camouflage for a very specific situation:
An “angel soldier” is posing in front of Lee
Yongbaek’s works he had made for the Korean
pavilion of the Venice Biennale 2011, named The
According to Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu, all warfare is based on deception. Disrupted pattern camouflage can
protect a soldier from detection. When a soldier should be seen, for example when patrolling in a peace-support
operation, he or she can be easily spotted as a bearer of armed authority. Furthermore, the pattern appears more
wild and aggressive. Perception rules, even if this means that the military functionality is reduced in favour for
an allegedly more modern (read: fashionable) design. The heart of any camouflage is fooling an observer – and
sometimes, this is being extended to those developing and wearing disruptive pattern material. Camouflage is
always ambivalent, with its roles ranging from a desired cloak of invisibility to an indicator of power and prowess.
In any case, war constantly changes and adapts itself to new realities. The need for camouflage will remain, be it a
disrupted pattern uniform for the military, or civilian clothes for insurgents in Iraq or terrorists in Paris.
Love is Gone but the Scar will Heal.