The Landscape of Remembrance A MONA Moment By Ron Roth Director Museum of Nebraska Art

I have seen and heard many memorials and eulogies for the dead of September 11, all with their portion of grace and power. But there is one memorial which has been exhibited at the Museum of Nebraska Art over the last few months which, unfortunately, will be little noted outside of Kearney after its brief appearance on our walls.

It is one panel from a series of panels, a work of graphic design by two members of the University of Nebraska at Kearney fine arts faculty--Richard Schuessler and Mark Hartmann. This assemblage of images entitled, Collaborative Project, is their collaborative response to September 11. This panel specifically memorializes the passengers, pilots and flight attendants who perished on the planes of September 11.

What I find so compelling in this one image is the creative use of the design of words as eulogy. It is the spiritual soul mate of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC, that is, the idea that the stark facts are potent enough imagery to create compelling, emotional impact.

Here are four red dots on a small, white, rectangular plane of white. At first glance, the dots' arrangement appears random. But on further reflection, we see they are placed on the white background in the same spatial relationship as the crash sight of the September 11 planes on an imaginary map. Here, there is no cartography, no reference to traditional geographic points. The spatial relationship of the planes crash sites to each other emerges and becomes clear and indelible in the geography of our hearts, suspended in the clear space of thought, remembrance and sorrow.

Underneath each dot in simple red type, the number of passengers, flight attendants and pilots lost, with the precise time of the crash. Here is a design set in the spare beauty of prayer. Here in this eloquent symmetry of design we are given a wide berth for our own feelings. It focuses our attention on the essentials of the tragedy, and we are left silently with our own thoughts, our own reverence, our own prayers for the dead.