The Aesthetics of Victimization: Commemorating Loss, Violence, and Catastrophe in Contemporary Public Art

Abstract: Over the past few decades, thousands of newly dedicated memorials to the subjects of slavery, terrorism, war, massacres, school shootings, religious persecution, natural disasters, and disease, among others, have materialized in various national landscapes. These victim memorials represent part of a larger commemorative movement that art historian Erika Doss calls memorial mania: a preoccupation with issues of memory and history accompanied by urgent desires to express those concerns in public spaces and places. Examining recent commemorative projects in France, Mexico, Norway, South Africa, the United States, and elsewhere, this talk situates contemporary victim memorials in revisionist understandings of history, including ethical imperatives to remember those who have been forgotten or marginalized, a strong emphasis on linking the past with the present, the haunting specter of postcolonial victimization, and heightened expectations of emotionally engaged forms of public culture that may act as transformative sites of conscience.