Pacific Fiction – Study for Monument
A putative model for a future memorial, Pacific Fiction – Study for Monument pays tribute to the people of the Marshall Islands, offering a testament to the suffering enacted by the United States government during the Nuclear Arms Race.
Pacific Fiction – Study for Monument, Julian Charrière. Photo courtesy of the artist.
About the work
The work incorporates a pile of coconuts encased in lead, symbolising the traumatic embrace of this region by the atomic project; the lead coating is suggestive of smothering – and evokes a profound colonial imposition. Yet there is also a suggestion of safety and hope: in physical terms, lead ‘contains’ the danger posed by the radiation present within the coconuts. The pyramid form further recalls a stockpile of cannonballs – this ‘fruit’ of atomic knowledge stands ready for deployment, for good or ill. But it also invokes a tomb, like the pyramids of Egypt, and the deathly architecture of the bunkers on the shores of Bikini’s Atoll from which scientists observed their nuclear tests.
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