Mirza
Jahic
7-22-03
HUMI
16
Pin
# 2406
I cannot figure out what would be
harder to bear and live trough, being rejected for my idea or opinion of the
world that I live in today or being given a chance to actually prove and build
my architect piece. Maya Lin was given a chance like this and she as a matter
of fact did go trough numerous amounts of rejection, oppression, racist remarks
and other cold comments that have been uttered by the oppressionists.
The Vietnam Memorial was built in the Constitution Gardens in Washington,
D.C., through private donations from the public, and dedicated in 1982. Even
though the money was there, there was still a great task of choosing the
perfect architect to build a piece that would reflect and relate to all of U.S
Americans that have fallen during this horrible war.
Maya Lin, an
Asian-American was considered to be a horrible choice for this particular task
not because of her lack of experience but because she was “Asian”. She was
selected because of her true feelings towards the men and women that were
killed or MIA during this war. She expressed deep emotions towards them and her
design or preview of the actual piece was simple yet full of words and
amazement. Even though there was a lot of controversy like for example a
Vietnam vet mentioned that this piece looks like a giant black scar slashed
upon the United States.
Every time I look at the
Vietnam War memorial I get a sense of relief that sort of flows trough my body.
It is amazing how a architected piece like this can have such huge influence on
me and even on individuals such as the vets or other people involved directly
or indirectly to the war. A piece like this is simply amazing because the
simplicity of the piece is what gives it character, makes it strong and carries
its message across, not the obvious signs and plaques that are supposed to
signify a certain something, but that something can never be found.
Simplicity is key when dealing with a great amount of people because
beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. The Vietnam War Memorial signifies and
carries different messages for each and every one of us. For me, even though it
does not have anything to do with the Vietnam war, the memorial affected me on
a level far beyond anybody that did not have to go trough the things that I
went trough. I look at the list of names and I ask myself, why? Why did so many
innocent people have to die because they were trying to prevent a cause not
worthy of even a bad man’s life?
It’s amazing how the
government can persuade people or masses to think the way that they want them
to. They are able to hypnotize the men to go and risk their lives and be proud
of the fact that they will inevitably lose their lives for one reason or other.
Another great design by Maya Lin was the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery,
Alabama that remembers the people who shaped the struggle for civil rights in
America. Constructed of black granite, a thin stream of water gently flows over
the names inscribed in the face of the monument. After I saw the actual piece
on the video tape provided by Mrs. Bresnan I thought to myself that this is simply
amazing. How an artist can give herself to a certain architect piece similar to
this. Maya Lin is willing to go a 100% and beyond to inform herself, to predict
and to emphasize memory and the beauty that lies within it, the conquered past
as I like to call it. She is constantly trying to open the gates of true perspective
on the situations that individuals had to live trough with nothing in future
but more suffering and pain. She greatly portrays this in every one of her
architect pieces.
The significance of the
Vietnam War Memorial and any memorial that Maya Lin was responsible for is that
it is in its simplest form. The simplicity of these memorials is what matters
the most. She carried this over into her other works like for example the
“Topographic Landscape”, “Avalanche”, “Wave field” and of course the “Vietnam
War Memorial”. Maya Lin is truly a hero in the eyes of every soldier alive or
dead, every African American that struggled for his or her rights, every human
being that ever fought for something that is righteously theirs not by any law
but by the code of humanity, the code that everyone of us is meant to live life
by according to their standards and not by anybodies rules, segregations or
codes, but simply because everyone of us is the same within, we are all human
and Maya Lin greatly portrays this in every one of her architect pieces by
simply saying we are all one and by saying preserve the memory of the fallen and
loved ones because the future lies in the past, not the present.
No comments:
Post a Comment