MEMORIALS: A Role for Artists in a Post-pandemic World
Memorials have been in the news lately with the Black Lives Matter Movement spotlighting the impact of Civil War era statuary, and memorials have certainly been a staple of art practice throughout time. Memorializing human and global tragedy has been a recurrent theme in my own work – in particular, remembering the Holocaust and the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Exhibition of the Holocaust series at LA Artcore Gallery, 1994
Installation of the Hiroshima/Nagaski Memorial Project, 1995
The problem we have seen with permanent memorial art objects (statues and paintings) is that they are often tied to a political and historical moment that history may look back upon differently as we have seen with the Confederate monuments that are being pulled down. Monuments also take up real estate and require maintenance even if they remain acceptable our outlive their significance.
In addition to the physical artwork, my practice of memorializing tragic events has always involved public participation and reflection.
Me with Tomoko Maekawa, head of the Nagasaki community committee, which facilitated my Hiroshima/Nagasaki Memorial Project in 1995 including discussion groups with citizens and survivors in Nagasaki.
Rather than simply presenting an art exhibition, I have always tried to use my art as a catalyst for discussion, reflection and educational outreach. I became an artist/activist long before Social Practice was a subject area in art curricula.
These are some of the Project Reports from the Hiroshima/Nagasaki Memorial and the Holocaust Projects that show the range of public programming:
Hiroshima/Nagasaki Memorial Project (Catalog)
Archival catalog of a traveling exhibition of paper sculptures as an artistic response to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 produced by artist, Sandy Bleifer. The exhibition along with community, artistic and educational programs traveled to 3 cities in the US and to Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Osaka in 1995, the 50th anniversary of the bombings. Available for purchase and a free PDF download at Blurb.
Project Report
Archival materials documenting the Hiroshima/Nagasaki Memorial Project, a body of art work and related community, educational and ancillary events that comprised a traveling exhibition commemorating the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki upon the 50th anniversary of those events. This report accompanies the publication, Hiroshima Nagasaki. Available for purchase and a free PDF download at Blurb.
Holocaust Series (Catalog)
A body of three dimensional figurative paper sculptures combined with wood and construction materials representing the interment of people in the concentration camps during the Holocaust. Strips of mold-infected papers symbolize the striped uniforms that were worn. The works remind us that these were once vibrant healthy people who were brutalized and killed in the concentration camps. Available for purchase and a free PDF download at Blurb.
Memorials Going Forward
Now, we anticipate the end of the pandemic. After such an extended period of massive loss of life and having been denied opportunities to process grief surrounded by loved ones, I see a new role for artists as “grief facilitators/memorial creators” emerging.
Coincidentally, the LA Department of Cultural Affairs has recognized the need for post-Covid memorials, which have been deferred during the year’s shut down. They see this as a modern day WPA-like program offering artists support for doing this kind of healing work.
The post World War II WPA (Work Projects Administration) found opportunities for artists working in traditional media such as murals and public works, but many of today’s artists see a much broader spectrum of options for self expression and are motivated toward social good and providing a benefit to the community. They not only apply their skills in unconventional contexts, but also command a wide spectrum of non-traditional tools. It is these multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary artists with a range of skill sets who can produce meaningful work for families seeking closure from the loss of a loved one and the ceremonial aspects that once provided it.
The WPA artists produced murals and public amenities that continue to enrich community life today. Just as the WPA was a job creation strategy for artists after the Depression, I believe this first program of the DCA to “make work” for artists post-pandemic, will open the doors for broader community benefits. According to a SNAAP survey: opening more avenues for artists to craft a “work” of collaboration with citizens is clearly the wave of the future.
Besides me, Jack holding Certificates of Commendation/Recognition from Mayor Kevin Maceown of the City of Santa Monica and State Senator Ben Allen. Mick Flaum, who conducted life-drawing labs at the Workshop and then at Jack’s home after the Workshop was closed. Sheila Pinkle, a prominent LA artist and teacher, who produced her Master’s Thesis work at the Workshop.
Jack Duganne (1942-2020)
One of my personal losses this year and also one of the great losses to the arts community in our City was the death of Jack Duganne, founding director of Workshop, i.e. and innovative leader in digital technologies for art. Jack was my mentor beginning in 1973 when I joined the Workshop and learned silkscreen printing from him. He passed away Easter morning while we were in the midst of arranging a commemorative event at the Santa Monica Library and just as the City went into its first shutdown.
I am working with his family to arrange an appropriate memorial according to their wishes once we can open a dialog with the City of Santa Monica and this is what stimulated my present reflections on Memorials.
I think Cities and Municipalities are going to have to grapple with the unfinished business of catching up on memorials after things open up again. Because of the very public circumstances of these losses and the long deferral of the normal process of grieving, I think we need a new perspective on how these memorials can be most effective.
Perhaps there is a way to link private memorials with the use of public spaces and ephemeral art such as film, dance and music as a way of sustaining memory that has been deferred for so long. I believe there is an on-going role for artists-in-residence (perhaps with the Dept. of Rec and Parks or public schools) to provide assistance in developing memorials, utilizing public space and providing creative services to mourners by putting together events and memorializing the experience of images, artifacts, sound, lighting, dance, etc. to help people go through a meaningful grieving process.
Memorials produced and recorded through these post-Covid collaborations could be scheduled for airing by family and friends at local public parks or school auditoriums on the anniversaries of the deaths. In this way, a memorial is sustained without taking up real estate and requiring ongoing care. All those who remember the departed can gather together with new family members to pass on the memories of the deceased. As we say in Jewish tradition: “The departed whom we now remember still live on in the acts of goodness they performed and in the hearts of those who cherish their memory.” These memorial modalities can create as well as sustain those memories.