Situating the Body Within the Memorializing Process: Designing the Canadian Victims of Communism Memorial

• In Event: The Body, Memorial Culture and Alan Kurdi

Abstract

This paper argues that understandings of “the body” critically inform how the past is memorialized. I analyze the thematic similarities that recur across the six design finalists for the Canadian victims of communism memorial in an attempt to infer how architects and urban planners understand the relationship of the body to the memorial. Four different types of bodies are emphasized within the planning documents, including the bodies of victims, the body of the memorial, the bodies of the visitors, and the body of the nation. By no means mutually exclusive, these different bodies inform the design process in different and oftentimes contradictory ways. This paper suggests first, that the study of the body is a useful lens through which to consider the nexus of representation, commemoration, collective memory, and national identity and second, that the concept of “the body” is key for understanding the communicative power of memorials.

Author

• Samantha Oliver, Annenberg School for Communication, U of Pennsylvania