Detailed concept
art is now on display at the National Museum of the American Indian
pending a final decision on which design will be implemented
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An
artists rendering of the Capitol dome as seen through
Harvey Pratts proposed Warriors Circle of
Honor (National Museum of the American Indian)
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On Veterans Day 2017, the National Museum of the American Indian
made an unexpected but widely acclaimed announcement: it would be
soliciting submissions from the public detailing potential designs
for a brand-new memorial on the National Mall.
Situated on museum grounds, the memorial would be dedicated
to the spirit, bravery and sacrifice of Native American soldiers
across United States history, and would serve as a place of solace
and communion for Native American veterans and their loved ones.
Now, the submission period has closed, and the museum has winnowed
the pool of designs down to five possibilities. Detailed concept
art of the finalist submissions went on view at both of the museums
locations in New York City and on the National Mall in Washington,
D.C. Each prospective memorial approaches the narrative of Native
American military personnel in a distinct way, and any would make
for a beautiful, thought-provoking addition to the National Mall.
The museum is inviting outside comment from the community through
June 12, 2018, as it makes its decisionthe winning design
will be announced in the months to come.
For your consideration, here are the five finalist designs:
Wellspring of Valor
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James
Dinhs Wellspring of Valor (NMAI)
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In developing his concept for the new memorial, James Dinh took
care to balance American military iconography with Native American
iconography, setting symbols and the traditions they represent in
intimate conversation with one another.
At the center of Dinhs design is situated a tranquil healing
fountain, surrounded by a quintet of tall glass spires. Labeled
respectively with the values of Valor, Honor, Pride, Devotion and
Wisdom, their glistening angular forms unite when seen from above
to form a five-pointed star.
That this star has a void at its heartwhere the healing
fountain is situatedspeaks to the cost of battle. Those
who died in the line of duty are marked by the empty space at the
center of the star, Dinh says in his artists statement,
which is illuminated at night to memorialize the courageous
lives of these men and women.
Concentric circlesripples, in Dinhs
imaginationradiate outward from the star and fountain, and
are bounded on one side by a mound of earth evocative of the ancient
lifestyle of Americas Mound Builder peoples. Inlaid in this
mound is a firm stone wall bearing testimonial quotes from Native
American servicemen and women. Like a slice through the earth,
Dinh says, the stone wall inscribes the individual voices
of veterans that are often collectively buried within history.
One stretch of this wall, which Dinh terms the Wall of
Stories, is particularly strikingthat featuring a seated
bronze sculpture of a Native American mother and child. Visitors
would be invited to sit alongside the sculpture to contemplate in
a moment of peace the hardships weathered by countless Native American
families as a result of war.
Warriors Circle of Honor
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Harvey
Pratts Warriors Circle of Honor (NMAI)
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Another memorial proposal featuring a prominent centerpiece
is that of Harvey Pratt, which eschews the military emphasis of
the star symbol at the core of Wellspring of Valor in favor of a
simpler geometric form: the circle. A fixture in much Native American
storytelling, the symbol of the circlerendered in Pratts
design in gleaming stainless steelsuggests the cycle of life
and death, and the continuity of all things.
On ceremonial occasions, Pratt says, a flame
will be ignited at the base of the circle. Veterans, families and
others are invited to come to the campfire and tell
their stories. By situating the memorial to look out over
the stillness of the nearby Chesapeake Bay wetland landscape, Pratt
hopes to foster an environment of peaceful contemplation in which
visitors can come together over the stories of those who have servedand
share their own.
This storytelling space, which offers four arcing benches to
visitors, is the inner of two concentric circlesbeyond it
lies a redbrick walkway, on which museumgoers can wander at their
own pace and immerse themselves in the circular symbolism. Along
this walk, symmetrically spaced, are four lances jutting skyward.
While clearly emblematic of military courage, the lances serve another
purpose: guests who wish to leave their mark on the memorial are
invited to tie prayer cloths to them.
Beneath the steel circle, which Pratt calls the Sacred
Circle, is an intricately carved stone drum, which
will convey the constant pulse of Native American spirit and sacrifice
across the breadth of Americas history. It is not strictly
somber in its symbolism, howeverPratt hopes visitors will
seize on the silent rhythms of the memorial as an invitation to
harmonize their experiences. The drumbeat, he says,
is a call to gather.
We Fought for Our Country
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Daniel
SaSuWeh Jones and Enoch Kelly Haneys We Fought For Our
Country (NMAI)
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Daniel SaSuWeh Jones and Enoch Kelly Haneys contest submission
is also geared toward community experience, and the notion of making
the stories of Native American heroes accessible to all. While humble
in size, Jones and Haneys memorial is situated near the museum
to catch the eyes of as many guests coming and going as possible,
inviting spontaneous conversation and opportunities for photographs.
We Fought for Our Country takes the form of a squat cylindrical
plinthwhose rough-hewn marble echoes the coloration of the
museum overlooking itsurmounted by a sculpture of two Native
American figures captured mid-footstep. The taller figure, an adult
woman shepherding a child along her path, represents nature, in
all its constancy and grace. Her traveling companion, a little girl,
is a personification of the future.
Stones from Oklahomas Chilocco Indian Boarding School,
the alma mater of a great many 20th-century Native American soldiers,
line Nature and Childs path, suggesting the ceaseless yet
often unacknowledged sacrifices of members of Americas indigenous
communities.
Below this elevated pair, a group of faceless additional figures
keeps watch in a circular formationsix bronze Guardians,
the designers say, representing spirit protectors of Nature
and Child. The uniforms on these bronzes correspond to the
different branches of the U.S. military, while the headdresses they
wear pay homage to the various major indigenous groups of America.
Farther down the column are plaques depicting the US Military/Indian
relationship with scenes of valor, endurance and sacrifice,
and a circle of eight-inch bronze figures holding hands in solidarity,
camaraderie and communal oneness. A final, poignant element of the
memorial is the Healing Hand, a bronze hand that invites visitors
to reach out physically and put themselves in communion with Nature,
Child and their Guardians.
The Enduring Dance
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Stefanie
Rocknaks The Enduring Dance (detail) (NMAI)
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This concept, proposed by Stefanie Rocknak, shares with We Fought
for Our Country a sense of dynamism and a deliberate blend of military
and Native American dress. Where Haneys piece elevates two
symbolic figures, however, Rocknaks sets an assortment of
nine essentially side-by-side, so as to suggest a coming-together
and a celebration of shared legacy. This joyous quality of the memorial
is strengthened by Rocknaks decision to present nearly all
of the sculptures (cast in bronze and finished with a granite-like
patina) as dancers in the midst of ritual performance.
Eight of the nine figures, whose diverse attire signals both
wide-ranging heritage and commonality in the warrior tradition,
are situated atop a small wall, inscribed on its face with textual
narrative detailing the deep history of Native American service
and selflessness. Rocknak says that this text will encompass
the obstacles, the achievements, and the continuation of the warrior
tradition from generation to generation.
Standing between the wall and the viewer is the interpretive
figure of the Storyteller, a sculpture whose simple windblown robes
suggest a kind of timelessness. She mediates between the dancing
warriors behind her and the visitors eager to learn those warriors
stories and perhaps to share their own. Her visage will be
wise, calming and eternal, says Rocknak. The visitor
can almost hear her even-toned voice as it resonates throughout
the ages.
Driving home the storytelling focus of Rocknaks memorial
is the nighttime lighting of the figures, which dances on their
stony faces so as to evoke a deeply personal fireside discussion.
The front of the sculptures will be illuminated with an amber
light, which will flicker, Rocknak says, and so be suggestive
of the glow of a ceremonial fire.
Ribbon of Time
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Leroy
Transfields Ribbon of Time (NMAI)
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The final concept under consideration is Leroy Transfields
Ribbon of Time, a sinuous stone wall that charts pictorially and
via direct quotes the history of Native American service across
the most tumultuous periods in global history. Transfield has proposed
that the memorial be situated along the northern face of the museum,
such that its own arcing form will mirror that of both the museums
long river-like fountain and its undulating limestone exterior.
Transfields design might call to mind Maya Lins
famed Vietnam Veterans Memorial, but the two walls are miles apart
in their messaging. Where Lins cold black tribute, pointed
like a chevron and reflective so as to implicate and confront viewers,
suggests the weight of loss and the tragedy of dehumanization in
war, Transfields tribute to Native American veterans envelops
visitors in its welcoming recesses and tells them inspirational
stories, celebrating the human bravery of individuals rather than
mourning them en masse.
At the end of the wall, and the end of the meandering story,
a towering sculpture of a proud Native American warrior keeps watch,
looking out over the memorial and fountain and to the Washington
Monument rising far beyond. His presence visually links the Native
American experience etched in the stone of the wall with the broader
American experience represented by the open National Mall.
The memorial will blend and harmonize with the surrounding
[landscape] as if it has always been a part of it, Transfield
says, as if it has risen from the eartha sort of ancient
ruin that tells a great cultural story honoring the indigenous veterans
of this land.
Plans for the five designs are on
view at the Smithsonians National Museum of the American
Indian in the the exhibition National Native American Veterans
Memorial Design Competition in Washington, D.C. and in New
York City at the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House, One Bowling
Green, through May 30, 2018. Comments are being accepted via email
through June 12.
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