Healing and Reconciliation

Built between 1870 and 1878, Memorial Hall honors the Harvard graduates who died in the Civil War while fighting for the Union. Each of these menÂ’s year of graduation, name, date of death and battle of death are permanently inscribed in the marble walls of the transept that serves as the main entrance to the hall. Deep Wounds uses this space to explore unfinished healing and reconciliation.

Entering the transept, we see the Union men’s names, dates and battles on the walls; we see the beautiful stained glass windows and cathedral ceilings; and we see that the white marble floor has become luminous in certain central areas with hints of inscribed text. As we walk across these floor areas, the luminous skin blisters and opens to reveal descriptions of Harvard graduates who died while fighting for the Confederacy.

Each man’s year of graduation, state, date of death and battle of death are projected onto the floor. Instead of a name, however, we see a relationship such as ‘fatherÂ’ or ‘classmateÂ’ that describes a family relationship each man had or a relationship he had to schoolmates on the wall. After the uncovering, the skin mends itself, covering the names once again.

The Confederate men are arranged on the floor facing or close to Union men from the same Harvard graduation year. The Union words are etched in red and the Confederate words are written in blue.

DEEP WOUNDS, a temporary site-specific art installation by Brian Knep (website | blog), was commissioned as part of a residency co-sponsored by HarvardÂ’s Medical School (Department of Systems Biology) and Office for the Arts. It’s on view through April 30, 2006: Monday – Thursday, 9 am to 7 pm; Friday, 9 am to 4 pm; Saturday, 2 to 5 pm; Sunday, 3 to 5 pm, Memorial Hall, 45 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA.