John Risseeuw: "These prints are the result [of] an ongoing project that began as a sabbatical research project in 2001-2002. The subject is landmines and landmine victims. The UN estimates that 100 million mines, or more, may be deployed in 62 nations. That’s one mine in the ground for every 50 humans on earth. Every 15 minutes, somebody steps on a landmine. These 'hidden killers' pose a constant threat to the safety of local populations long after the guns of war have been silenced.

"The project involves making handmade paper and printing landmine images, facts, and stories of survivors and victims on it. In hand papermaking, we can make paper from used cotton, linen, or silk clothing – rags – as well as plant fibers and other sources of cellulose. I have collected articles of clothing from landmine victims (this means only a representative piece of clothing – something the person wears or wore – not from the accident itself), fibrous plants from mine locations, and the currencies of nations that make or have made landmines. All of this is pulped and made into the paper for my art."
 
"The story of Maes Pow explains the twin danger to landmines: unexploded ordnance (UXO). Cambodia is usually considered to be the second-most mined country on the planet, after Afghanistan, and there may be as much UXO as there are mines. Although the UXO that Maes Pow encountered was left behind by the Khmer Rouge, most UXO in Cambodia is the result of American bombing during the Vietnam War."