Where the Past Seeks the Future:
Sculpture, Memory, and “Never Again”
by Victoria Langland
The relationship between sculpture and memory is so intimate as to appear almost natural.... When the events to be commemorated are particularly traumatic, conflictive, or painful, however, hopes for sculpture’s mnemonic power take on added significance. In such cases, the promoters of public monuments express a desire not simply to recall the past, but to ensure that it will not be repeated. “Never Again” has become a maxim for those seeking to preserve and transmit memories as disparate (and yet hauntingly similar) as the Nazi Holocaust in Europe and the regimes of state-sponsored terrorism in Latin America in the 1960s and 1970s. From Rwanda to the Balkans, societies coming to terms with past atrocities have turned to sculpture not only to physically mark their pain and commemorate their victims, but also to pass on lessons to future generations.
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