Facing Darkness

      I believe Architecture coupled with social justice has always been two synonymous entities that work to define and Incapsulate an era, message, or group of people. Instead of debating if they are or not, one should ask in what role does design + Architecture, in particular – have in engaging these societal challenges?” How can architecture frame or re-frame the presentation of such political artifacts to contextualize the object and its meaning? Until 1971, memorials generally tended to be relatively “literal” in their depiction of persons and events. 

     The project I worked on chronicles the start of one of the longest social justice movements in history. In 2013 near the beginning of the movement, Trayvon Martin was murdered in his hometown in Florida. This where the story for the memorial begins and it features  the names of some of  the victims whose stories captured the nation as they were yet another life lost  to social injustice. Lined within the pockets of the walls are a series of plaques dedicated to honoring the names deeply attached to the movement. Beginning with a ceremonial procession that gradually descends towards the sea meant to evoke empathy and contemplation. The entrance to the memorial is on axis with the confederate defenders monument. A move intentionally made to establish connection, then break away from that established connection as the visitor’s orientation begins to veer off the aforementioned axis throughout the experience. Henceforth breaking away from the practices of our dark past and towards an optimistic future ahead. As Maya Angelou stated “History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.” Architecture does have the power to evoke change, and start conversation. In the words of the late John Lewis, “We may not have chosen the time but the time has chosen us.”