‘September 14, 1901 - September 11, 2001’
VCA Gallery, 2001
National Gallery of Victoria, 2002
‘September 14, 1901 - September 11, 2001’
Ink on Drafting Film
400 x 800cm
A chronological listings of over 3,000 one-line newspaper headlines and 'History of the 20th Century' anthologies, of attacks, atrocities, assassinations and invasions that had occurred in the preceding 100 years prior to September 11 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre.
The relentless brutality of these listings are an historical inventory and memorial to a century of conflicts, and triggers cathartic mourning and sobering reflection on the extent and persistence of ongoing conflict in which all nations and ethnicities have been both the victims and perpetrators.
On a personal level, the inventory also represents three generations of my family’s history, who lived and died during the first half of the century (my grandparents’ and parents’ generation) and the second half of the century (my siblings and peers generation).
Now, 25 years into the 21st century, September 14 1901 - September 11 2001, is a despairing reminder of humans’ (ie man’s) violence towards each other, that is still being perpetrated in this new millennia, prompting us to determine how this century will progress. Will the new millenia be any better than the previous century, that is universally considered to have been the most murderous century in recorded history? Do we really want to surpass that?