using
recycling to confront the tragedy of genocide
Conceived
and directed by JEFFREY SCHRIER
WINGS
of WITNESS, Katonah Musuem of Art Sculpture Garden, 2005
WINGS
OF WITNESS
A
memorial assemblage sculpture in progress inviting hands on participation
Under the direction and vision of artist Jeffrey Schrier,
thousands of youth internationally continue to construct WINGS of WITNESS
through workshops Schrier presents at their schools and institutions. The
source material used for the assemblage sculpture is millions of
soda can tabs. The initial eleven-million tabs were collected from
all fifty states and eight countries by Mahomet Seymour Jr. High
students in Illinois in 1996-97, to represent the number of persons
destroyed in the Holocaust. Millions of additionally collected tabs
continue to extend the scope of the project, attempting to encompass
the impact of genocide on humanity. Now, over fifty- thousand
participants internationally have constructed "soda tab
feathers" for the immense WINGS of WITNESS butterfly. An
expression of hope developing out of tragedy, the shimmering
butterfly has been installed by thousands of volunteers as a work in
progress at eight
sites to date, including museums, institutions and
public spaces.
Wings of Witness at the Holocaust Memorial And Educational Center of Nassau County
WINGS of WITNESS is a massive project of memory and
creativity, that uses an art form to foster human decency, and to
build a prodigious community of participants.
Confronting hate, apathy, and human carelessness, project workshops
are continuing in 2010-11, through the environmentally based
activity of recycling millions of tabs into this monumental work of
art. JOIN THE WINGS OF WITNESS STUDIO WITHOUT WALLS, by bringing
project workshops to your community.
Wings of Witness - Evolution
For a chronology of dramatic photos
documenting the eight sites that the memorial assemblage sculpture has visited
during its ongoing development, click: Photo
Metamorphosis
Click here
for Project Background by Jeffrey Schrier, project Creative Director.
