insite
: : kevan nitzberg
Peace Wall, Oakland, CA
art
as memorial
Of all of art's functions, perhaps one of its most significant and troubling roles
is as a reminder of the atrocities and man-made tragedies that have been committed
in the name of one cause or another, some still shielded in a mantle of nobility,
others the result of madness and fanaticism. The events of late surrounding the
execution of Timothy McVeigh for the April 19th, 1995 Oklahoma bombing of the
Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, certainly brings this purpose of art to the
fore.
http://www.oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org/news/thumbnails/003.gif
The 168
empty glass and granite chairs making up the Field of Empty Chairs, serve as a
reminder of those who lost their lives due to the terroristic attack carried out
by McVeigh. The chairs are placed in rows that signify on which of the nine floors
the victims were when they died. The smaller chairs in this part of the Oklahoma
National Memorial, represented the 19 children who were killed in the blast.
Additional
components of the memorial, designed by the Butzer Design Partnership in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, include the Gates of Time that marks the formal entrance to the
memorial, The Survivor Tree, a large elm tree representing the capacity of people
to pull together and persevere against tremendous odds, the Reflecting Pool, the
Rescuers' Orchard and the Children's Area, the latter containing a wall of hand
made tiles by children from all over the country that express the feelings and
compassion of the children for the victims and survivors [1].
A
predecessor to this impressive (and at the same time grim tribute to the loss
of innocent life), is the National Vietnam War Veterans Memorial in Washington,
D.C., often referred to simply as, The Wall. This massive man-made installation
was initially conceived after Vietnam Veteran, Jan Scruggs, had viewed the film,
"The Deer Hunter", in 1979[2].
The
then architecture student, May Lin, submitted the design that was selected for
building this structure that records all of those Americans and their allies who
lost their lives fighting a war that couldn't be won. Almost 2 decades had to
pass between the initial U.S. presence in the 50's under Eisenhower, to the final
capitulation during the Nixon administration, before the American forces and those
of their allies were removed. The Wall served as a catalyst for a host of other
Vietnam memorials to be built all across the United States, and overseas, both
fixed and mobile, and a literal 'sister' memorial to The Wall, The Vietnam Women's
Memorial that was also constructed in Washington, D.C., that honors the women
who served and died in Vietnam [3].
Scene
at The Wall, Washington, D.C.
http://www.vietvet.org/thepast.htm
Australian
Vietnam Memorial in Canberra
http://www.vietvet.org/aussimem.htm
Picture
at "The Wall" taken by Tom Dewey
http://members.aol.com/deweytj/
War, of course,
gives rise to an incredible number of artistic tributes as the price that is being
acknowledged with each newly engraved and carved piece of stone or cast metal
figure, is a reminder of the losses entailed and the sacrifices made behind the
erection of these historically significant timekeepers.
Beyond
where one comes up on the political side of the rightness or wrongness of any
military conflict (the Vietnam War was never officially declared a 'war'), the
magnitude of the human, social, economic, and political impact of the actual destruction,
lasts long beyond the actual event. In a very real way, the memorials constructed
in memory of those events, provide both recognition of what transpired as well
as the means to come to grips with the devastation, opening a path towards eventual
healing. As therapeutic as the creative process can be for those who take part
in the making of images and objects, so also do the works help others who come
to witness and find some sense of solace in the structures themselves.
From the Peace
Memorial Garden, Hiroshima
http://www.csi.ad.jp/ABOMB/pmm.html
As technology
advanced ever more quickly in the 20th century, the capacity for greater human
devastation moved right along with it. Towards and precipitating the culmination
of WWII, the fury of the atomic bomb was unleashed on Japan during the bombings
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki [4]. The horror of what the exploding of radioactive
bombs brings, has been kept alive by the edifices in what is poignantly called
Peace Park in Hiroshima.
Perhaps
an apt quote with which to view all of the memorials that we have erected both
in the present and in the past, were the words of Mr. Takashi Hiraoka, the Mayor
of Hiroshima City during the 1995 Peace Declaration commemorating the 50th anniversary
of the end of World War II: "This is an era in which we must think of global security.
It is a time to foster human solidarity transcending national borders, to pool
our wisdom, and to work together to establish world peace."
If
this message from a leader of a city that endured some of the worst that human
ingenuity is capable of producing, is listened to and followed, the business of
art can actually remain within the realm of exploration, introspection and celebration,
concentrating on the best and most creative that we have the potential to bring
forth.
[1]. http://www.oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org/symbolic/concepts.html
[2]. http://www.vietvet.org/thewall.htm
[3]. http://www.vietvet.org/images/vn/billm/women1.gif
http://www.vietvet.org/images/vn/billm/women2.gif
[4]. http://www.csi.ad.jp/ABOMB/
Kevan
Nitzberg is an art educationalist and Minnesota Educator of the Year, 2000. To
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