Artists: Janice Hayes-Cha, Brenda Howell, Karen Hunter McLaughlin, Julie Mann and Kimberly Mehler.
Jan 4 to February 10, 2013
Gallery Hours: 12pm – 6pm, Tuesday – Saturday
First Friday Receptions: January 4 and February 1 | 5:30pm – 7pm
One Year is an exploration of the public apathy towards rising urban violence. Through the creation of hundreds of sculptural wire vessels– one for each murder in Philadelphia in 2012– One Year conveys our sorrow at the numbing of society towards this epidemic.
Every victim leaves behind a mourner: mother, father, loved one. One Year is a memorial to both sides of the tragedy. The wire creates beautifully intricate shapes to portray each loss as a complex individual, while each vessel’s shadow speaks to the inter-connectedness of victim/perpetrator, mourner/mourned, body/soul. Installed together, the sheer number of deaths is undeniably devastating. The voices of mothers remind us of the desolation left behind.
The installation was inspired by the action and resilience of Mothers in Charge, whose work transforms grief and aims to prevent this violence.