Memorials as Group Art Therapy
Just blocks from my NYC art therapy office stands the National September 11 Memorial and Museum. In the 13 years it took to complete the memorial, there has been a lot of debate and criticism regarding what was planned, how long it was taking to complete, and how costly it was. One such piece of concern is expressed here by the New York Times' Michael Kimmelman, where he talks about how the formal, flatness of the reflective pools feeling "impersonal" and not "New York". It felt like such an important decision and one that will affect the new One World Trade Center and the Financial District forever.
Memorials are large scale, public art pieces. Whether we participate in planning or creating the actual physical memorial or not, they are a form of art therapy. Memorials give voice to a great loss, they help us feel connected to something greater, and give a shared experience to all who visit. They are works of art whose meaning transcends the object itself. Group art therapy is typically thought of as taking place within a therapy group but memorials or art created by or for a larger community (i.e. school mural) can also be examples of group art therapy.
Memorials have the tough task of representing a traumatic event in an accessible way for public consumption. Trauma and PTSD are usually thought of as micro events, something one person suffers from because of an experience specific to them. Trauma is also something that is typically talked about in hushed tones and often comes with secrecy and shame. Yet in instances of shared trauma like 9/11, there is a ripple effect moving from the victims of the attacks, to their friends and family, to those who live and work in the area and beyond. Art therapy is a very useful tool in resolving and moving past trauma for both individuals and large groups. Art helps to hold some of the pain from the trauma and it helps give voice to the traumatic event and its impact.
How Do We Choose to Memorialize?
It is quite an undertaking, deciding how to memorialize a tragedy so huge and attempting to balance form and function, hoping to create a usable space that truly honors our loss. With two very big anniversaries just having passed, the fourteenth anniversary of 9/11 and the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina upon us, New Orleans residents are grappling with the question of how to mark this passage of time.
The New York Times Cameron Shaw asks, "who has the right to speak for New Orleans?". In his piece, "Ten Years After Katrina, New Orleans Museums Reckon with Recovery", Shaw visits the three major fine art venues in city and their 10 year anniversary exhibits— the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art and the Contemporary Arts Center. The exhibits vary in theme and aesthetic- NOMA's exhibit extends the question beyond just memorializing Katrina and asks, “what do smart, visually engaged artists have to say...about the act of memorialization in general?”.
A Tragedy That Is More Than the Event Itself
The event of Hurricane Katrina and the recovery efforts are arguably more complex than a calamity like 9/11 because of the racial discrimination that was exposed as a result of the natural disaster. Instead of the post-2001 "united we stand" sentiments, Katrina left our nation with questions about how we prioritize life and resources in this country. Therefore the memorials commemorating the ten-year mark must take into consideration the political, racial, and class implications of the event.
Everyone who was in New Orleans for Katrina experienced great pain and loss, yet depending on your race and class, what that loss looked (and continues to look) like varies greatly. These three exhibits all with work by several artists doesn't begin to capture the diverse experiences in the wake of the storm. Many of the images are so clean and curated it is hard to really connect it to the events of the past ten years.
"The Media Ignore Us"
The New York Times choice of focus may in itself be significant, as there are a plethora of cultural events and memorials that took place for the anniversary, many of which are listed here by the New Orleans Advocate (NOLA). The article focuses on three exhibits from very reputable art venues yet they are also spaces that are clean, sparse, and lack the messiness the Katrina invoked. Not to mention that four out of the five artists pictured in the article appear to be white.
NOLA lists memorial events that go well beyond fine art, including but not limited to vigils, prayer circles, storytelling events, music, and festivals. One in particular that caught my eye was a "Human Art Exhibit" called "The Media Ignore Us" that took place on August 29th. The exhibit features black youth who themselves are the "art" on exhibit. They have grown and thrived in spite of Katrina and all the politics surrounding it.
The Art Therapy That Joins Us
There is no limit on the ways that we can process traumatic events like 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, especially with the use of art therapy. Yet there are many challenges when a group attempts to memorialize on a larger scale. It is hard to to create a memorial that reflects both the event and the place, especially in locations such as Manhattan or New Orleans, which both have such strong cultural roots. Further barriers arise in instances such as Hurricane Katrina where the memorials are in danger of perpetuating the racial and class chasms that the hurricane itself exposed.
