insite
: : kevan nitzberg
keeping
the peace - art prefacing memorials
So many forms, functions and purposes fall within the realm of art, it struck
me after completing the Art as Memorial article for this magazine, that perhaps
one of the most significant roles that art can play on a worldwide scale, would
be as “keeper of the peace”. This thought., while no means a unique one, has
exciting implications that could certainly impact attitude, behavior and action
that might alter how we ultimately act and react with each other across cultural,
racial, geographic and idealogical boundaries.
In coming up against those obstacles, there are some insidious barriers that have
become almost acceptable signposts of popular culture that need to be addressed. Included in this uneasy landscape is often
a mindset that appears to be built on images / events / sensory teasers that are
negative or menacing in some fashion. That
which is dwelt on, particularly by youth, often has violent, or, at the very least,
rebellious overtones that are typically seen as simply rites of passage within
society.
These
signs of the times (or hormonal surges), seem to permeate film, literature, television,
music, comic books and Saturday morning cartoons (and their equivalent around
the globe). It is no accident that advertisers
take advantage of this point of view to promote their products and thus perpetuate
negative stereotypes. Destruction has
been elevated to a new aspect of ‘cool’. Online sites post movie ratings based on their kill ratio [1], or offer up the attributes
of computer games based on such qualities as making the best use of killing machines
and strategies for annihilating other characters in simulated realities such as
“Lord of Destruction”, “Anarchy Online”, “Twisted Metal: Black”, and “Dead to
Rights” among many others [2].
Against this backdrop of images, verbiage and sound there are other movements
afoot that have for the most part been quietly lurking in the shadows that need
to be heralded and attended to in order to truly change the focus of how people
think and act, not only in terms of choices made in vicarious forms of fantasy
role-playing, but in real life as well. Changing
that focus in order to lessen the need for erecting memorials to those who fall
victim to that violence, is the point of this sequel.
There are already a substantial number of organizations that advocate an end to
violence of all kinds in society. Such
agencies exist on both global as well as local levels
and are represented online by such groups as the Pacific Center for Violence
Prevention (http://www.pcvp.org/),
Partnership Against Violence / PAVNET; (http://www.pavnet.org/),
The Spanish Society For Psychology of Violence; (http://www.sepv.org/LaSoc/descrip-i.html),
the Purple Ribbon Project (http://www.cs.utk.edu/~bartley/other/prp.html),
Minnesota Center Against Violence and Abuse (http://www.mincava.umn.edu/),
and the Australian Institute of Criminology (http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/vt/vt1.html)
to name but a few.
The study of the causes and effects of the violence along with strategies for
coping with those effects, are well researched and documented by these and many
more groups seeking to abate those negative and dangerous behaviors that appear
to be getting more and more attention. There are also art ventures and projects
that are about raising awareness and creating another path for living in a gentler,
happier and more productive world. American Friends Services Committee brings
us drawings of the children of Kosovo, for example, on a site entitled “Children’s
Art from ‘Peace, Love and Landmines,' on which Michael Poulshock proclaims about
the children and the art featured:
“Their drawings express the realities of life here--past, present and future--in
ways that few adults can. They convey feelings of pain, sadness, loss, insecurity,
isolation and thwarted dreams ... but at the same time they express hope, peace
and the promise of a new day [3]. “
Last
year, an international art competition for children was held online, sponsored
by Fischer Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (http://www.dr-fischer.com/). The results of that competition may be seen
at http://www.peace.co.il/priz_win.htm#a,
and include examples such as the following poignant artwork:
by Alex Soriano Ramos, El Salvador
This year, Lions Club International’s own Peace Poster Competition winners and
entries can be viewed at: http://www.artsonia.com/peaceposter.asp.
A collective digital quilting project is being organized by Anna Martin (National
Art Education Association), Electronic Media Interest Group Chair. The project
was discussed earlier this month on July 5th during a discussion on TAPPED IN
[4. The project entitled, “Blanketing the World with Peace”, will involve as many
schools and educational institutions as want to take part, with the individual
squares of the quilt linked not only to the sites of their origin, but also to
other arts sites as well including dance, poetry and music. Ms. Martin created
the the organization, Heart in the Middle of the World: Art of Displaced and Refuge
Children (http://www.cedarnet.org/emig/children/),
that is heading this initiative. This effort is actively seeking sponsorship and
funding for the creation of the software that will be necessary to create the
web page needed to launch the project, in addition to contributions from internationally
known artists.
The lead editor of art-themagazine.com, Ian Clothier (the online magazine you
are now reading), has also been involved in art / peace collaborative efforts.Here
was a statement he sent to me regarding that effort
Good to hear from you. On the line of worldwide collaborative peace projects,
I am the NZ Co-ordinator for the Kaki tree Project 2002. This is organised out
of Japan and is a worldwide interactive art project. The Kaki tree story is this:
originally it was thought all life near the epicentre of the Nagasaki was destroyed
by the bomb. However, several trees miraculously survived. One of these, a Kaki
(persimmon) tree was nurtured in 1994 by a local tree surgeon, Dr Ebinuma. The
tree doctor began preserving the second generation of the original bombed tree,
and distributing seedlings to school children who visited him. In 1995, artist
Tatsuo Miyajima met Dr Ebinuma, and taken by the poetry ofwhat the doctor had
done, proposed a world wide interactive art work involving the public (including
non-artists) and importantly, school children. TheKaki Tree project aims to revive
consciousness of peace, revive awareness of how we should live, and revive art
(art outside of it's formal definition). After ten years, the seedlings fruit.
The url is http://www6.plala.or.jp/kaki-project/
In
addition to the Kaki Tree project, there is also the 1000 Cranes for Peace project
centering around the bombing of Hiroshima during World War II [5]. The creation
of 1000 cranes centers on the Japanese legend that in creating these birds made
by folding paper, the gods would grant the person who created them a wish. The
initial story revolved around a young girl, Sedako Sasaki, who was 2 years old
at the time of the bombing. Like many other Japanese people, she came down with
leukemia as a result of the radiation from the atomic blast. It was her desire
to get better and thought that the folding of the 1000 cranes would make her wish
come true. Sadly, she succumbed to the disease when she was only 12 years old.
Since then, thousands of paper cranes have been sent to the Children of the A
Bomb Statue in Hiroshima’s Peace Park (referenced in the Art as Memorial article),
from people all over the world [6].
Peace Memorial Museum - Hiroshima, Japan [7]
Another
peace through art initiative is the World Wall for Peace project that began back
in Berkeley, California in 1988. The walls were a response to the ever present
danger that was constantly a threat during the Cold War era. There are now over
36,000 hand painted tiles that make up these structures that exist around the
globe, not only in the US, but Japan, China, the Netherlands, Russia, and South
Africa [8].
Peace Wall in Jack London Square, Oakland, CA.
Suggestions
for creating one’s own peace wall in their community to continue to focus on this
important art form and level of awareness, can be found on the World Wall for
Peace web site at: http://www.wwfp.org/html/building.htm
There
are many other sites for ongoing projects that reflect the desire to make art
a proactive force for peace in the world that are just a simple click and search
away on any number of surf engines online.If all of us in the art community (or
those who are just passing through), took the time to just investigate one of
those sites or even began one’s own ‘peace through art’ proposal, think how much
change in attitude and consciousness raising could be effected, from those actually
involved in the creation process itself to those who receive the benefit of those
efforts as spectators. The passing of the results to the larger population in
turn, through computer generated images as well as promoting the artwork through
the print, radio and TV media, will help to construct a considerable tool for
bringing about a healthier environment that has less of a need to erect edifices
that commemorate the tragedies of the past.
In
Ghandi’s words, “ We must be the change we wish to see in the World.”
Notes
[1] http://magi.com/~rhdf/scms/scms.html
[2] http://gamespot.com/gamespot/?tag=st.cn.sr1.dir
[3] http://www.afsc.org/ewnews/kosart.htm
[4] http://www.tappedin.org
[5]
http://www.he.net/~sparker/cranes.html
[6] http://www.art-themagazine.com/insite6.htm
[7] http://www.csi.ad.jp/ABOMB/pmm.html
[8] http://www.wwfp.org/html/history.htm
Kevan Nitzberg is
an art educationalist and Minnesota Educator of the Year, 2000. To suggest a subject
matter you would like searched, click here
to send a message.
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