Souls Behind the Material:A Look at Conflict Photography, Memorials, and the Future

Schuyler DeMarinisArt and WarKira Van LilSpring 2017

You are struck with silence. You fall deep into the vastness of color and form

that sits monumentally in front of you, a sense of powerlessness. The painting seems

to tower over you, dehumanizing you, making you feel insignificant. Emotion runs

through you. It starts deep within your chest and flows to each of your toes and

fingers. This feeling is different for each and every viewer. You are standing below

Clyfford Still’s PH-247 (1951) at the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver, Colorado.1

Still was born in North Dakota, moved to Alberta, Canada and then finally on to

eastern Washington. He was known as a man of the West when he finally made it

San Francisco, projecting a grave seriousness to his demeanor. As a child, he would

watch his father work the fields and later in life spent much of his time traveling.2

This can be translated into his work when you stand below it in person. It is a

magnificent experience. The stark immensity of Still's work brings you into the

West. It is as if you are watching his father for months on end plowing the field and

bringing in whatever little money he could for the family. You feel the ruggedness of

these people, how they give their lives to the land, and indeed make the West what it

is. It is this translation of emotion that makes Still’s work successful. It is this that

any conflict photographer, memorial architect, or sculptor hopes to succeed in doing

when attempting to present their vision to the world.

The intent behind today’s memorials is becoming similar to what drives the

conflict photographer into the front line of combat. As the common white marble

monument becomes a thing of our past, literally, we as a society are asking for

something new, fresh, and innovative. We want to learn from the memorials and let

them teach us lessons, to become aware of something new. We are also asking for

something emotionally when visiting memorials, this is something that the Vietnam

Veterans Memorial and well as the National September 11th Memorial and Museum

have succeeded in doing. Everything that we are asking from memorials in 2017 are

the same elements that conflict photographers want to contribute through their

images to today’s world. They are risking their lives to bring us closer to the truth. 1 Kinsella, Eileen. "Clyfford Still Museum Makes Huge Loan." Artnet News. April 12, 2016. Accessed May 10, 2017. https://news.artnet.com/exhibitions/clyfford-still-museum-makes-first-ever-loan-471644.2 "Clyfford Still — Clyfford Still Museum." Clyfford Still Museum Clyfford Still Comments. Accessed May 10, 2017. https://clyffordstillmuseum.org/clyfford-still/.

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The question I have in mind is which of the two, memorials or photojournalism,

become more successful as a motive for change and if they both find themselves to

be equally effective, how can we use them in collaboration?

In an eerie interview with photographer Sebastian Junger, he speaks to a

fallen friend and collaborator Tim Hetherington as if they were his final parting

words. “You had a specific vision for your work and your life, and that vision

included your death. It didn’t have to, but that’s how it turned out. I’m so sorry,

Tim.” Is his death what makes the images he presented to the world so compelling

and hold meaning far after the conflict has ended? There is no doubt that Chris

Hondros and Tim Hetherington produced work while they were alive that changed

opinions and brought significant awareness to the public. When Hondros took the

photo of the Iraqi girl in Tal Afar in 2005, he exposed much more than the death of

an innocent child’s parents.3 He showed the world the instability of the Middle East,

the pain, and suffering that was occurring, and brought sympathy to the people of

Iraq. Tim Hetherington’s work in the Korengal Valley at the Restrepo Outpost in

2008 brings an identity and personal connection to the soldiers serving over seas.

He shows us the anguish and agony of everyday life, training routines, and debates

between villagers and soldiers.4 He brings their world into our living room. There is

nothing wrong with men like Hetherington and Hondros being the centerpiece of

conflict photography because they gave their lives, but we have to consider that they

are not the only ones.

In an article in The Guardian, Jenny Matthews expresses her doubts on the

criticism that women photojournalists receive for their sex. The common

misconception it that women don’t have what it takes to risk it all for a picture, that

they may not be robust enough to endure the harsh conditions, or that they may let

their emotions get in the way of the shot. Mathews as well as photographer Susan

Meiselas don’t deny these claims completely but point out ways that it helps create a

broader story, and in turn can be more effective. Meiselas remembers working in 3 "Chris Hondros: How He Got that Picture." Columbia Journalism Review. Accessed May 10, 2017. http://archives.cjr.org/campaign_desk/chris_hondros_how_he_got_that_picture.php.4 "Tim Hetherington." AFGHANISTAN. Restrepo Outpost, Korengal Valley. Accessed May 8, 2017. http://pro.magnumphotos.com/Catalogue/Tim-Hetherington/2008/AFGHANISTAN-Restrepo-Outpost-Korengal-Valley-NN1108971.html.

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Nicaragua and El Salvador in the 70’s and 80’s. She compared it to being physically

tested like an athlete might. She also commented on being able to use her “less

threatening” stigma to gain permission to certain situations that a male

photographer could not have. Matthews points out that, “women sometimes think of

better ways to capture a story. We look behind the action and have different

priorities, such as human interest.” In regards to physical strength, U.K.

photographer Jillian Edelstein lugged around her two-year-old child and her camera

bags using a buggy. Edelstein puts it plainly, “you work all hours. You work

incredibly hard. You don’t think about being a woman.”5 Quite simply these women

were more concerned with their vision of bringing awareness home. It is this same

idea that the group exhibition Bringing the War Home wanted to achieve.

In 2010 ten artists gathered to host an event entitled Bringing the War Home.

This show was meant to look behind the scenes of war, find the backstory, and the

effects it has closer to home. In this exhibition, we look at war photography from a

different perspective and get a chance to compare the effectiveness of combat

versus non-combatant photography. One of the most compelling works in Bringing

the War Home was Lisa Barnard’s, Blue Star Moms. She photographed the care

packages that mothers were sending overseas to their sons or daughters serving in

the military. This work immediately draws a personal connection, a care package is

something many of us received after we left for college, and the items inside are all

very recognizable. You get an idea of what these soldiers favored and you created an

identity for them.6 Christopher Sims contributed work in this exhibition that

certainly brings the war home. Sims photographs U.S. military training facilities in

California. The photos though may catch you off guard because these structures

were constructed to be mock Iraqi and Afghani towns. The image that struck me the

most was Mosque with Golden Dome, Fort Irwin, California because of the nature of

the structure.7 The U.S. military was training soldiers to fight in a place of worship. It

says something for our government's views on religions. Overall Sims did manage to 5 Abrams, Melanie. "Melanie Abrams: From the fringes to the frontline." The Guardian. November 16, 2008. Accessed May 7, 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2008/nov/17/women-photography-war-exhibition-barbican.6 "Impressions Gallery." Impressions Gallery. Accessed May 7, 2017. http://www.impressions-gallery.com/exhibitions/exhibition.php?id=36.

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take place and connect the world going on in the Middle East to our backyard, both

of these artists in Bringing the War Home managed to do this. Not only that but the

exhibition as a whole managed to successfully tell a meaningful story about the war

that the conflict photography could not, making it no less as significant.

Dane Jensen in 2008 curated a fine art exhibit using the images from

embedded military photojournalists. Jensen had a similar vision like Bringing the

War Home had by searching for the backstories of war, in this case in Iraq and

Afghanistan. He found that the Middle East was ridden with poverty, pollution, and

child labor due to effects of constant warfare. The photographs themselves were

chosen specifically to tell a story. There are images of makeshift villages built on top

of graveyards and children’s bedrooms containing nothing more than a pillow and a

few blankets.8 Military photographers have a stigma of being censored, which does

happen when filtered through the government. Jensen managed to look past this

stigma and create a personal story. These embedded photographers know Iraq and

Afghanistan better than most. Their images tell the true story. Exhibits like Bringing

the War Home and Jensen’s Eye of the Storm: War Through the Lens of American

Combat Photographers don’t hold any more or less importance than the work of

Hondros and Hetherington, they just tell a different side of the story. They do share

the same vision, and as photographer Nilufer Demir would put it, “I hope the impact

this photo has created will help bring a solution.”9

Imagery is a powerful tool in today’s society. We are constantly being bombarded

with photos of current events. The more technology grows, the less we seem to read.

The things we do read must be direct and to the point, and hold significant

importance. Photography, and specifically conflict photography, has become a

means for generating awareness of the masses. Three common themes continually

arose whether talking about Hondros or the Bringing the War Home exhibition and

7 Art Radar. Accessed May 6, 2017. http://artradarjournal.com/2010/10/27/documentary-and-art-photography-crossover-exhibition-attempts-to-portray-alternate-realities-of-war/.8 Hontz, Jenny. "Exhibit: War Photos of Iraq and Afghanistan." Newsweek. March 13, 2010. Accessed May 7, 2017. http://www.newsweek.com/exhibit-war-photos-iraq-and-afghanistan-89767.9 Shirbon, Estelle. "From Vietnam War to a Turkish beach, the shock of the photo endures." Reuters. September 04, 2015. Accessed May 8, 2017. http://in.reuters.com/article/europe-migrants-photo-idINKCN0R421V20150904.

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that was identity, personal connection, and visual experience. It is these elements

that make conflict photography such a compelling tool for spreading awareness.

This consciousness, in turn, will hopefully transcend into change. This is why

Hondros and Hetherington gave their lives in Misrata, Libya on April 20, 2011.10 It is

the reason curators like Jensen and photographers like Sims and Barnard search for

the backstory of war. They want to spark something inside of us that will hopefully

result in change. This is also what memorials seek to achieve but are they as

effective?

I grew up in Oberlin, Ohio, the ninety-ninth stop on the Underground

Railroad. The town was filled with markers and commemorative plaques. School

trips mostly consisted of visiting homes where great missionaries during the civil

war took refuge. My grandparents on my father’s side lived temporarily in a historic

home owned by the city as caretakers. Below their dining room table was a hidden

door where escaped slaves would take shelter from the slave catchers. Oberlin

College also played a significant role in the abolition of slavery, and they were the

first school to admit African American students in the 1830’s.11 The city was rich in

history, so it made sense that it was going to have a memorial devoted to the events

taking place during the civil war. The college, in fact, has an Underground Railroad

Sculpture funded by the 1977 art class and design by then senior Cameron

Armstrong. The memorial was simple. It was ascending train tracks coming out of

the ground about 10 feet, sturdy enough to play on. Around it was planted a “healing

garden,” containing flowers and herbs used by the escaped slaves along their

travels. The memorial itself was erected in commemoration of Oberlin, Ohio playing

such an important role in the abolition of slavery and the Underground Railroad.12

Not only is this memorial unsuccessful because it lacks any emotional significance,

but it plays into this idea that monuments historically are more centerpieces of a

city rather than respectful tributes.

10 "Chris Hondros." Wikipedia. April 26, 2017. Accessed May 8, 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Hondros#Libya_and_death.11 "History." History | About Oberlin | Oberlin College. Accessed May 9, 2017. https://new.oberlin.edu/about/history.dot.12 "Facility Detail." Facility Detail: Underground Railroad Sculpture | Oberlin College. Accessed May 10, 2017. http://new.oberlin.edu/student-life/facilities/detail.dot?id=385133&.

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When I speak of monuments of our past I mean those that are of heroic men

carved out of marble or cast in bronze. These monuments are proudly exhibited by

the city and signify greatness, success, and power. The Washington Monument on the

National Mall stands tall and high above all else. The monument was meant to be

representational of the Wonders of the World, specifically the Egyptian pyramids.

Built to commemorate the man who led the Continental Army to victory over

Britain’s outstanding and distinguished military it signifies power.13 The Marine

Corps War Memorial is another example of our nation's pride rooted the victory over

others. This memorial was erected in commemoration of any Marine Corps

personnel who has died in the name of the United States since 1775. The statue is a

recreation of the photo taken on February 23, 1945, as the American troops took the

island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese, a turning point towards the conclusion of the

war. The photo is of a group of U.S. soldiers raising a flag in an upward motion,

signaling a rise in power and triumph.14 The Battle of Iwo Jima resulted in the deaths

of over 6,000 American soldiers and over 17,000 Japanese.15 Interestingly enough,

the only two other known Underground Railroad memorials follow suit to the

formal attributes of these monuments.

The Tower of Freedom memorial in Ontario, Canada was designed by Ed

Dwight and is quite reminiscent to the Washington Monument. Inscribed on the

tower reads, “Keeping the Flame of Freedom Alive.” The white pillar is meant to

stand tall above all else, stand up against injustice and prejudice, and represent the

victory.16 I find this to be troublesome because these issues are still going on today.

The public is not gaining any awareness or connection to the historical story being

told and therefore the monument is loosing power. The other memorial for the

Underground Railroad, also designed by Ed Dwight, is in Battle Creek, Michigan. It is

13 "History & Culture." National Parks Service. Accessed May 10, 2017. https://www.nps.gov/wamo/learn/historyculture/index.htm.14 "History of the Marine Corps War Memorial." National Parks Service. Accessed May 8, 2017. https://www.nps.gov/gwmp/learn/historyculture/usmcwarmemorial.htm.15 "Battle of Iwo Jima." Wikipedia. May 8, 2017. Accessed May 10, 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Iwo_Jima.16 "Tower of Freedom/Underground Railroad Monument." Tower of Freedom/Underground Railroad Monument, Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Accessed May 7, 2017. http://detroit1701.org/Underground%20RR-Canada.html.

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similar to the Marine Corps War Memorial in that there is an upward rise in motion

from the figures that make up the statue. This particular memorial depicts Harriet

Tubman leading the escaped slaves to freedom.17 I understand the reasons for why

Ed Dwight designed these memorials. They were what were expected of monuments

of the time. Along with Oberlin’s Underground Railroad Sculpture, it was created to

please. The issue is that these are no longer successful. They hold no emotional

ground. Over time these monuments become less of a commemoration and more of

a landmark. It was for these reasons I began to question the power of monuments

and memorials as instruments for change.

I recently visited the Portland Art Museum and was able to see the almost 3 x

4-foot photograph by Richard Avedon William Casby, Born in Slavery, Algiers,

Louisiana in person.18 I was struck with silence as if I was in front of a Clyfford Still

painting. I could see the pain and suffering that this man's life had endured. His eyes

looked into mine, though much larger, I could feel a connection with him. The

immense size of the piece grew on me and gave this man, William Casby, an identity

he once did not have. I then began to realize how much more photography has done

for bringing awareness of civil rights, prejudices, and racism and hate then any

memorial has done to date. Mathew Brady, for example, produced an image of the

escaped slave named Gordon, who’s back, was ravaged with whipping scars, during

the Civil War.19 This may have done more change than any statue erected to

Abraham Lincoln. I began to lose hope in the concept of memorials altogether until I

ran across a project being constructed by architect Michael Murphy and civil rights

leader Bryan Stevenson.

To have a museum chronicling the great crime that was African slavery in the

United States of America would be to acknowledge that the evil was here.

17 Hostmaster. "Underground Railroad Sculpture." Michigan. January 10, 2017. Accessed May 7, 2017. http://www.michigan.org/property/underground-railroad-sculpture.18 "RICHARD AVEDON (1923-2004) , William Casby, born in slavery, Algiers, Louisiana, 3-24-63." , William Casby, born in slavery, Algiers, Louisiana, 3-24-63 | Christie's. Accessed May 7, 2017. http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/richard-avedon-1923-2004-william-casby-born-5379351-details.aspx.19 "A Slave Named Gordon." The New York Times. October 03, 2009. Accessed May 8, 2017. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/books/review/Letters-t-ASLAVENAMEDG_LETTERS.html.

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Americans prefer to picture the evil that was there, and from which the

United States-a unique nation, one without any certifiably wicked leaders

throughout its entire history-is exempt. That this country, like every other

country, has its tragic past does not sit well with the founding, and still all-

powerful belief in American exceptionalism.20

Susan Sontag, Regarding the Pain of Others

Stevenson and his team had been working for some time to research and map out

all of the sites across Alabama where a lynching had taken place. Their findings

were astounding in the most horrific way. Montgomery, Alabama, the site of the

Memorial to Peace and Justice and the victims of lynching in the South, is already

known for its unbelievable amount of plaques and markers commemorating the

Confederacy and its leaders.21 Susan Sontag’s excerpt from Regarding the Pain of

Others may have some answers to why. To the rest of the country, the lynching did

occur there, in the South. To the people of the South it occurred there, as in the past.

Stevenson and Murphy by constructing the Memorial to Peace and Justice are

bringing it here, to Montgomery, to Alabama, and to America. In a TED talk on

Architecture: That’s Built to Heal, Michael Murphy expresses that:

Countries like Germany and South Africa and of course Rwanda have found it

necessary to build memorials to reflect on the atrocities of the past in order

to heal their national psyche. We have yet to do this in the United States.22

This statement coincides with Sontag’s beliefs. We are at a pivotal point in our

society and the way we are considering the world today. Finally, we are starting to

become capable of expressing the pain and suffering of our past. It is for this reason

why the marble and bronze monuments are no longer successful and why we are

asking so much from memorials today.

20 SONTAG, SUSAN. REGARDING THE PAIN OF OTHERS. S.l.: PICADOR, 2017.21 "The Memorial to Peace and Justice." Equal Justice Initiative. Accessed May 9, 2017. http://eji.org/national-lynching-memorial.22 Murphy, Michael. "Architecture that's built to heal." Michael Murphy: Architecture that's built to heal | TED Talk | TED.com. Accessed May 9, 2017. https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_murphy_architecture_that_s_built_to_heal.

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The Memorial to Peace and Justice though not completed yet has many

successful attributes to it, the same elements that effective conflict photography use.

Identity, personal connection, and visual experience, can all be applied. As you move

towards the memorial, it looks as if you were walking towards a colonnade building,

like the Parthenon. As you descend a ramp into the structure further, you notice that

these columns do not touch the ground but instead hang over you. This effect is not

only giving you a visual experience as you walk into the memorial but you are also

gaining a personal connection. The hanging columns are meant to represent

individuals who were lynched. You are now apart from this atrocious act, and the

lynching is now, here. Names are inscribed on the column and again on a matching

marker in the field outside the memorial. Here Murphy and Stevenson are giving an

identity to the individual who until this time had been forgotten by the world. The

markers that encompass the field will be claimed overtime and moved to the actual

location where that individual was lynched. The soil from that place would then

replace the marker in the memorial’s lawn. The Memorial to Peace and Justice uses

identity, personal connection, and visual experience to successfully evoke emotion

and an experience in the viewer. I found that it also had another element to its

success by evoking a psychological response.

When I describe a psychological response, you have to consider this to be a

very broad subject and something that may be experienced differently depending on

the individual. The best comparison I can make is the emotional and psychological

response that you get from the presence of a Clyfford Still painting. It is something

that is living inside the work. It is hard to describe exactly what this may entail with

the Memorial to Peace and Justice, do to its incompletion but I see it in the

experience the viewer will have as they realize the column of the memorial are not

joined to the floor but instead represent hanging bodies. Columns themselves hold a

robust and solid aesthetic and to remove them from the ground turns them into

something completely different. The spirituality of the architecture takes over, and

the memorial becomes a living thing that represents death. It is this uneasiness that

sparks the change. We have a psychological response to the architecture and what is

being presented. We don’t want to feel that way, so we will hopefully make changes

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so that this does not happen again. Like Murphy says, “architecture can be a

transformative engine for change.”23 We just have to allow this to happen.

So far as we feel sympathy, we feel we are not accomplices to what caused

the suffering. Our sympathy proclaims our innocence as well as our

impotence. To that extent, it can be (for all our good intentions) an

impertinent- if not inappropriate- response. To set aside the sympathy we

extend to others beset by war and murderous politics for a reflection on how

our privileges are located on the same map as their suffering, and may- in

ways we might prefer not to imagine- be linked to their suffering, as the

wealth as some may imply the destitution of others, is a task for which the

painful, stirring images supply only an initial spark.24

Susan Sontag, Regarding the Pain of Others

It is this spark that influenced a change in the way we as Americans are

growing into the next chapter of memorials. It began with the work of Maya Lin. A

then senior at Yale proposed a memorial for her final project. She intended this

memorial to give an identity to those who have lost their lives by inscribing their

names into the shiny surface. The wall would also be reflective so you could see

yourself as well as their names. Their souls are now living through you. You gain a

visual experience as you gradually walk downward and become buried from the

world above. All you can see are the black walls of the memorial. Conceptually

speaking it meant to represent a slice taken out of the earth, the people who were

stripped from our countries and sent overseas to die, a scare on our land, bringing

the war here. This evokes a psychological response inside of us. One that we are

23 Murphy, Michael. "Architecture that's built to heal." Michael Murphy: Architecture that's built to heal | TED Talk | TED.com. Accessed May 9, 2017. https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_murphy_architecture_that_s_built_to_heal.24 SONTAG, SUSAN. REGARDING THE PAIN OF OTHERS. S.l.: PICADOR, 2017.

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unsure of but also one that allows us to mourn. This proposal went on to winning

the competition for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and was constructed in 1982.25

Another memorial, constructed much more recently, was the National

September 11 Memorial and Museum. This too used the same successful elements to

achieve an emotional response. Like the Vietnam Veterans Memorial designers

Michael Arad, Peter Walker, and Daniel Libeskind included the names of those who

lost their lives on that tragic day. This, of course, gives the missing an identity. Inside

the museum, they also include personal items donated by the families of the

deceased, such as clothing and concert tickets, brings their identity to the next

level.26 As fellow Americans many of us can relate personally to these individuals,

maybe we once owned the same pair of shoes or went to the same Broadway show.

They wanted to make it very clear that the men and women who died were just like

us because they were. Visually speaking the memorial shows a void in the middle of

on of the busiest cities in the world, a dark black hole where nothing but souls of

those who died on September 11th will exist. This plays into the psychological

response to the piece. I am yet to experience this in person, but I am assuming it

feels a lot like visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The location where the

towers fell has had this ghastly atmosphere since the day it all occurred.

The National September 11 Memorial and Museum as well as the Vietnam

Veterans Memorial are both excellent examples of what we want emotionally from

memorials. They use specific strategies to engage the viewers in ways that

subconsciously psychologically affect their experience. The question at hand though

is if they are capable of sparking change? This is what is now asked of memorials.

This is something that Stevenson and Murphy hope to accomplish with the Memorial

to Peace and Justice. For them, it is not only an emotional and psychological

experience but also a learning experience. These are all the aspects of

photojournalism. Memorials and photojournalism are equally important at telling

the story of the world, and the question is not, which of the two is more effective at

25 Lin, Maya. "Making the Memorial." The New York Review of Books. Accessed May 8, 2017. http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2000/11/02/making-the-memorial/.26 Home | National September 11 Memorial & Museum. Accessed May 8, 2017. https://www.911memorial.org/.

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bringing change but instead, how can we use them in conjunction with each other.

Just like the photography exhibitions Bringing the War Home and Eye of the Storm:

War Through the Lens of American Combat Photographers it is just as important to

get the backstory, as it is to see the frontline. With memorials, we are capable of

spiritually releasing the past. It is just another way of expressing our societies grief.

The question then becomes how photojournalism and memorials will evolve from

this point? Is it possible for these two subjects to work in collaboration?

In October of 2016 the National Parks Service, the National Capital Planning

Commission, and the Van Alen Institute hosted an exhibition, Memorials for the

Future. Teams from all over submitted their proposals “to reimagine how we think

about, feel, and experience memorials.” The Van Alen Institute’s statement helped

develop the central motive of the competition and the importance of it:

Memorials enshrine what we as a society want to remember. But the places,

people, and stories that we memorialize, and the audiences who engage

with them, are in fact constantly changing. A memorial tells its story through

subject matter and design. This story is often complex and multi-dimensional

as a memorial’s interpretive elements embody ideas of identity, culture, and

heritage, and each have intensely personal interpretations for every

individual.27

After the completion of the exhibit, they put together their key findings on what they

find necessary for future memorials to be a motive for change. They concluded that

it is just as important to memorialize the past, as it is to consider the present and

future. This is because we are living in an ever-changing world, as The Van Alen

Institute put it we are “multi-dimensional.” We are constantly being fed new

information and forgetting the unnecessary. Our society needs our memorials to

convey “multiple truths and complex histories.” Events occurring today are also

becoming much more universal and less of a national subject. This means that these

27 "Memorials for the Future." Van Alen Institute. Accessed May 9, 2017. https://www.vanalen.org/projects/memorials-for-the-future/.

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monuments must represent every side of the story. They also must become

educational learning experiences in order to produce change.28

Climate Chronograph took the win at the Memorials for the Future

competition, and rightfully so. This work revolutionized the way we think about

memorials. A rectangular sloped garden of cherry trees would be planted on the tip

of Hains Point in Washington D.C. where the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers meet the

Washington Channel. As sea level rises over time the ground water at the lower

portion of the park would become toxic for the trees. They would begin to die in

succession, as the roots would become wetlands. This park would also serve as an

environmental center for research and teaching. There is no stopping the inevitable

sea level rise, but we can take measures to slow it. Visually speaking the visitors will

be experiencing the effects of climate change first hand. They are gaining a personal

connection by becoming engaged in the memorial through educational and visual

aids. Climate change is also gaining an identity by documenting the slow death of the

cherry trees over time.29 To be able to see the effects of climate change helps the

world believe that it is there. Crazy concept. In regards to the key findings that the

Memorials for the Future proposed to be necessary to motivate change, Climate

Chronograph managed to achieve most of them. The memorial itself grows as it

decays over time and in turn represents not only the future but also the past as the

skeletal branches remain. Though the location is on the National Mall, climate

change is much more universal and can be related to from any nationality or

background. Lastly, it is educational. This is important to induce change. If you

aren’t learning anything from it how can you progress your thinking? Climate

Chronograph could be the next generation of memorials.

One proposal that gained honorable mention but is much more relevant to

the combination of photojournalism and commemoratives was American Wild: A

Memorial. The team DHLS stated in their introduction that their memorial:

28 "Memorials for the Future Competition." Memorials for the Future. Accessed May 10, 2017. https://future.ncpc.gov/.29"Climate Chronograph." Memorials for the Future. Accessed May 10, 2017. https://future.ncpc.gov/pdf/Climate_Chronograph.pdf.

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Can be interpreted as an act of memorializing the American wilderness and

preserving the memory of the American landscape. In keeping with the

memorials of the future prompt this proposal challenges the notion of

memorial, as a static and permanent construction, as the parks are alive and

ever changing.

Over a period of 59 days, the team proposed to use projection mapping to display 59

different National Parks in ultra-high-definition video, one day for each park. This

would be presented in Washington D.C. Metro L’Enfant Plaza Station. The hope

would be to engage these city dwellers visually and create a personal connection

between themselves and our National Parks. By presenting them to the people

visually, they then gain an identity, like with climate change. The team’s goal was to

influence individuals to go visit the National Parks and hopefully gain an

appreciation. The team’s motto was View Visit Vote. They hoped to change the

public’s opinion and create awareness of particular political acts and bills that could

change the face of our earth. The memorial itself is open-ended and does not force

any opinion, and it respects our “multi-dimensional” world. You could just as well

enjoy the natural beauty of the American landscape on your way to work and care

less about the future of our environment. The significant element to look at in this

proposal is the use of imagery. This is the first memorial that I have come across

that uses actual images, in this case, video, to convey the message.

I end this report by looking at the work of Krzysztof Wodiczko. His projection

projects may not be considered memorials, but after exploring what is becoming of

commemoratives in today’s time, I don’t think he was far off. The Tijuana Projection

done in 2001 was intended to give a voice to the women who work in the

“maquiladora” industry. These women live horrific lifestyles being exposed to rape,

incest, drug and alcohol abuse, and domestic violence. Wodiczko projected these

women’s faces on the 60-foot façade of the Omnimax Theater at the Centro Cultural

Tijuana, an urban center point for the city. For a crowd of over 1,500 people, these

women told their stories, their voices being projected into the night.30 The piece was

30 Net, Media Art. "Media Art Net | Wodiczko, Krzysztof: The Tijuana Projection." Medien Kunst Netz. May 10, 2017. Accessed May 9, 2017. http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/the-tijuana-projection/.

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meant to bring awareness and visibility to the issues at hand. In 1999 Wodiczko

went as far as to include a memorial into his work. At the Hiroshima Peace Memorial

in Japan, projections of the arms and hands of survivors of the atomic bomb

accompanied their amplified story of life after the devastation. Wodiczko’s attempt

was to make a connection between generations and generate ideas for how to work

towards peace. Like the successful memorials that we have examined these

projection projects visually engage the viewer create a personal connection and

gives the victims an identity. In response to these dynamics, we have a psychological

response that will hopefully result in change. Wodiczko may have been making a

comment on monuments when he projected his Hiroshima Projection onto the A-

Bomb Dome, but I don’t expect it was intended to be the future of memorials.31

Photojournalism and memorials together help tell the story of our world, the

present, past, and future. There is no siding with one or the other because they are

both equally as powerful for motivating change in their ways. Without one or the

other, we lose context. We miss the whole story. The important thing to look at is

what makes photojournalism and memorials successful and apply it to future

consideration. Identity, personal connection, visual experience, “multi-dimensional,”

ever-changing, and resulting in a psychological response are all key factors. It will be

interesting to see if memorials will be designed to incorporate the grotesque

response that we look for in conflict photography. In an interview with artist Jake

Chapman, co-creator of Hell with brother Dinos Chapman, he puts it as simply as:

We have to have some indication of what death means. We have to have high

feelings of stimulation for what the idea of atrocity and death and murder

and everything that’s nasty, in order to kind of make what we have, have

some value.32

31 "“Hiroshima Projection”." Art21. Accessed May 9, 2017. https://art21.org/read/krzysztof-wodiczko-hiroshima-projection/.32 Cube, Source: White. "Jake Chapman on themes behind 'Hell' and its successor - video." The Guardian. June 16, 2015. Accessed May 8, 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/video/2015/jun/16/jake-dinos-chapman-fucking-hell-video.

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Our society has forced us to be in a constant need for more. This is why combat

photography will be praised higher by the media than exhibitions like Bringing the

War Home. The Memorials for the Future prompted artists to think conceptually

about how to please generations to come as well as their own. We are finally

jumping out of our comfort zone to “heal (our) national psyche,” as Michael Murphy

puts it. It will be interesting to see if memorials will become more graphic in nature

to motivate a desire for change. Climate Chronograph was successful at showing

death and decay through the lens of the degenerating cherry orchard. What remains

are skeletons of the once living tree and the park becomes a graveyard. I think the

next step will be to include the work and findings of conflict photojournalism with

the design and creation of memorials to come. Work like Wodiczko’s projections,

team DHLS’s American Wild: A Memorial, the National September 11th Memorial and

Museum, and the Memorial to Peace and Justice are all productive and successful

starting points to build from to stimulate change.

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