Viewing the portraits with children
Over the course of this activist art project we have had the opportunity to act as docents for groups of people from pre-school to adult. Especially with the very young, but with all ages, our approach has been to encourage the viewers to explore each artwork and delve into what the artist did to give us a sense of the life of the person who was the subject of the artwork. This is a joyful remembrance of the lives lived and , as I have quoted often, in the words of Anna Kocher, board member and artist, it brings the viewer to a place of empathy, a connection with the life of a person they do not know. In the very young the question of why the portraits are all together may not even come up but when it does, the simple answer is that they are no longer with us and their families and friends miss them and want to remember them and have us remember them. The specific discussion of the gun violence that links them is a topic reserved for discussion appropriate to the ages of the viewers.
Some of the prospective hosts of the exhibition have expressed reservations because theirs is a place where young children would be walking by the portraits. These portraits are a loving memorial and present far less a jarring experience than many, many things young people will come across in daily activities in the media, social media, stores, etc.
Seeing the portraits for the children who are effected by daily gun violence, we are told by many of the families participating in the project, is strengthening and acknowledges their grief. Children who are not at daily risk can learn valuable lessons about the inequity in our world and the simple lesson that guns can be dangerous and do not represent a reasonable solution to situations that could have been handled in a different way.
Education about this issue starting at an early age is crucial. We believe this project is a responsible, powerful, and sensitive approach to educating all ages about the human cost of this epidemic.
Laura Madeleine, Executive Director