Reflections of Generosity – Towards Restoration and Peace is the current exhibition on view through September 11 2009 at Fort Drum, Fort Drum NY. The organizing committee states, “Reflections of Generosity ’09 will provide the audience and participants opportunities for remembrance and hope beyond the pain of recent tragedy. It will also encourage soldiers and their families preparing for another deployment to face the coming sacrifices with courage and hope. This exhibition is also dedicated to the memory of the people who lost their lives on 9-11 and to the many soldiers who have given their lives in the ensuing conflicts.”
Cafe Art Blog readers may remember Suzanne Opton’s ‘Soldiers Faces’ project (photographs of Fort Drum soldiers) and her ‘Soldiers|Citizens’ project (US Soldiers and Iraqi Citizens) mentioned here.
On View We Are Climbing, Installation by Charles Westfall.
Artist’s Statement by Charles Westfall “…[as an artist] one is taking the material of the world, imposing a set of forms on it in a very concentrated way, to actually reinvest our existence with meaning.” – Tony Cragg
“There is an important relationship between physical violence and spiritual force. It’s a complex relationship and one has to be very cautious not to make cavalier statements about it.
“The Civil War, World War II, and for Christians even the instance of Christ’s crucifixion, represent circumstances in which redemption, for nations and for individuals, came at a heavy cost, and only after bloodshed. This does not constitute an endorsement of violence, or of physical force, it is simply my attempt to engage with this very complicated reality – one that service men and women seem to understand intuitively.
“This work is intended to explore the full complexity of this relationship: ascension in the midst of destruction, the wound as a window, and the hope that as “The tumult and the shouting dies, the captains and the kings depart…” we might find our way back toward restoration and renewal.”
Additional information about artist Charles Westfall is available at his website, charlesawestfall.com.
Additional information about International Arts Movement is available here.