Children’s Memorial

Work in progress…

For the past few years I have watched as Chicago schoolchildren have been murdered in alarming numbers.
I wondered if I could create a tribute to these children and their foreshortened lives. After viewing photos
of the children in the Chicago Tribune newspaper, I created Children’s Memorial, Chicago, IL:
Chicago schoolchildren killed during the academic year.

INSTALLATION
For this project, I will collect photographs of 23 Chicago schoolchildren who have been killed in the past year.
Installed in the gallery will be screenprinted images of each child, cropped so that only the child’s eyes are
visible. Each set of eyes will be hung at the height that each particular child was when he or she was killed.

Each child’s birth and death date will also be screenprinted on the wall, at a uniform height. The screenprints
will be installed chronologically in order of date of death.

VIDEO
Shown separately will be videos documenting the routes children living in Chicago's high crime neighborhoods
take to school.

SOUND
Weekly during the installation a Chicago gospel choir that will perform a call and response. A leader will chant
the full name, birth date and death date of each child killed in that academic year, while a chorus responds in verse.

If you are interested in displaying this artwork please email me.

about the American Death Series




—The Washington Times, article by Andrea Billups, May 13, 2009