March 3, 2008
University artist remembers the victims of violence
There were 48 homicides in Rochester in 2007. To
address that stark reality, artist Heather Layton created I Know It Happened And It Happened Like This, an installation on the lawn of the George Eastman House
through March. “It is difficult to empathize with statistics, so
I wondered if we would value life more if we could see all of the memorial
items found at the sites of violent deaths in one pile, if we would begin
to value life more seriously,” says Layton, a senior lecturer in the
Department of Art and Art History.
The 15-foot tower is tripod-shaped, and tied to it by
meshing are stuffed animals, picture frames, and other mementos that
customarily mark the place where someone has been killed. Donations to the
pile are still being added, and a community vigil is being planned for
early March.
“As an artist, I asked myself, if the pile could
grow so high that we could see it from all of our houses for miles around,
would it make us think more about what is happening? If not, what will
it take?” says Layton. The monument is meant to simultaneously serve
as a siren for crisis and a beacon of hope, she adds.
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