Upon entering a memorial site, one might expect to see a statue depicting the event or a display of names and dates alphabetically. But what if the memorial you entered contained none of these things? Would you consider the memorial disrespectful or dishonoring? Can a memorial be non-representational and still get the point across like a traditional memorial?.
Mia Lynn confronted this exact challenge when she entered a contest to design the Vietnam Veteran Memorial. Mia Lynn's creation did not include a statue of soldiers or an American flag, the names of soldiers were not even in alphabetical order but some how she got the point across. Non-representational art is often hard for being to grasp; it encompasses very abstract and symbolic subject matter. Many think of a memorial do be only representational, straight forward and to the point. This creates a site where little to know reflection or consideration is undergone for the soldier's lives that were lost. Non-representational art such as Mia Lynn's Vietnam Veteran Memorial, is not straightforward and too the point. From the surface, it appears very simplistic and thoughtless, but to truly understand why it appears the way it does, you must ponder on the events being memorialized. You become a part of the memorial, an active audience. .
Looking at a statue of a soldier or an American flag, you think patriotism, war but to view a slab of granite disappearing into the earth, you must put yourself in the place of a Vietnam soldier and decipher why this memorial symbolizes Vietnam, abstract but effective. Non-representational art is a much more effective way to make a memorial event specific. Without that extra thought that the audience goes through, it represents every war, every soldier and doesn't commemorate the American soldier's of Vietnam. .
