Collages by Madeleine Corcoran, 2014.

“The V of Lin’s memorial is the V of a scar, the V of vagina, the V of Kim Phuc’s sex in the napalm photo, the V of her arms as they outstretch, Christ-like, in pain. It is her arms signifying suffering; it also the enclosing embrace of the memorial, the enclosure of the female sex, the V of spread legs. V for Vietnam, an othered land, and V for Veteran, an othered home-body. V is for victory and V is the peace sign. The symbols remain opposed.”

– Madeleine Corcoran, 2015 ‘Bodily visions of the war in Vietnam’, chapter in Mythologizing the Vietnam War: Visual Culture and Mediated Memory.