225. Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Washington, DC. Maya Lin 1982 CE Granite.
Form
This memorial is a V-shaped war monument cut into the earth
The memorial contains the names of 60,000 casualties of the Vietnam War listed in the order they were killed.
The earliest names appear in the vortex and extend out to one end of the monument and begin again at the other end working toward the vortex; a symbolic circular association
Function
The war monument dedicated to the deceased and missing-in-action soldiers of the Vietnam War
Materials
Black granite, a highly reflective surface, is used so that viewer can see themselves in the names of the veterans
Context
Maya Lin is an Ohio-born Chinese-American
This was the winning design in an anonymous competition held to create a memorial on the mall in Washington, D.C.
The work is not an overly political monument with a message, but a memorial to the deceased who sacrifice everything
One arm of the monument points to the Lincoln Memorial, the other to the Washington Monument, placing itself central to key figures in American history
It digs into the earth like a scar, a scar that heals but whose traces remain, a reflection of the impact of the war on the American consciousness.
Initially strongly criticized by those who wanted a more traditional war monument; later, a figural grouping was placed nearby.
