We read to learn. We read to discover other cultures. We read to
escape into fantasy. We read to forget hardship.
And the folks at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art are hoping
we’re ready to read to remember.
LACMA plays host to “Readings of Remembrance,” which
commemorates the one-year anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001.
Co-sponsored with the literary magazine “Poets &
Writers,” the event features three L.A. area writers and
begins at 7 p.m this Friday.
“One of the things we thought about was how many people
came to literature after such a big event,” said Alicia Vogl
Saenz, a LACMA education coordinator. “Especially in times of
mourning, and especially poetry.”
The three featured writers are Hilal, Michael Datcher and David
L. Ulin. The writers were chosen for the different Los Angeles
perspectives they would bring.
According to Saenz, she chose Datcher because of the very
visceral political response to going to war she saw in his work,
Ulin because he is a former New York resident and could speak as an
emotional occupant of both cities, and Hilal for the quiet power in
her work and her unique experience as a female Arab-American
writer.
“(A year ago, Osama) Bin Laden hijacked our religion and
culture and betrayed us, and people bought it,” Hilal
said.
Unlike past LACMA readings, “Remembrance” will allow
the writers to delve into the genres of fiction and non-fiction as
well.
Hilal said she will not know for sure what she’s going to
read until she begins on Friday. Among the works she’s going
to bring with her are a personal essay and the poem “Broken
Skyline.”
After Sept. 11 last year, the biggest question for the art
world, like the rest of the world, was how to react.
“At first I was speechless,” Hilal said. “It
was hard to think of something to express in words something
that’s so beyond words.”
Hilal read other people’s poetry for solace, but
couldn’t write about the event herself until she came back to
the idea that, as a poet, it’s her job to put these things
into words.
Hilal doesn’t usually write essays, but once the
floodgates opened she needed more room than a poem could provide,
which resulted in the personal essay she will probably read Friday.
Her poems range from “Broken Skyline,” which is, in a
sense, written to the terrorists and opens with the line,
“You cannot speak for me,” to pieces that may only
relate to Sept. 11 in thematic or other indirect terms.
It was easier for the museum itself to make its artistic choices
for the coming year, because LACMA plans its displays four to five
years in advance, according to Saenz, and kept with its plan.
The reading will take place in a gallery big enough for around
60 people, which also contains an exhibition of South African
artist William Kentridge’s work relating to apartheid and
exile.
The title “Readings of Remembrance,” according to
Saenz, was chosen for its alliteration and the tone it set for the
museum.
“We definitely wanted to be neutral, and we want each
individual to be able to come with any remembrance they
have,” Saenz said.
There is no discussion portion planned for the reading because,
according to Saenz, by Friday everyone will probably have had ample
opportunity to speak their thoughts. However, Hilal says she likes
to feed off of the audience and their reaction and feedback is the
most important thing to her.
A year after Sept. 11 no definitive answer has been given by the
art community. Some artists have exploited the recent rush of
paranoia and patriotism, others have moved toward works of
mourning, and still others have tried to keep art about human life
for art’s sake. Of course, there is no one answer, but the
public has shown its willingness to stick with art both to escape
and to remember by still going to movies and buying books.
“I think the main point is some things can’t be said
except in literature, especially emotional truths,” Saenz
said.