Nationalmuseum Gripsholm Castle opens for the season

The Taubman Museum of Art presents Jane Hammond: Fallen, open through January 9, 2010.

Jane Hammond’s ongoing installation work, Fallen, concerns aspects of memorialization and remembrance for those who have died in Iraq. It was first displayed in 2005 accompanied by wall text that simply read, “Each unique handmade leaf is inscribed by the artist with the name of a U.S. soldier killed in Iraq.” Hammond began collecting leaves for the exhibition in the fall of 2004, one year after the invasion, and has continued to do so every year. After a leaf is digitally scanned and printed, Hammond works meticulously to transform the photograph into a life-like sculptural object by perfecting the shape, color, and thickness of the image.

Fallen premiered in New York in 2005 comprised of 1,511 leaves and was acquired in 2007 by the Whitney Museum of American Art. While on view at Roanoke College in the fall of 2008, Hammond collected leaves from our area to include in the installation. Fallen will open at the Taubman with more than 4,200 leaves installed by the artist on a pedestal approximately 30 feet long.

Six years after beginning the project, Hammond is committed to continuing the installation until the war ends and creates new leaves weekly. This instillation speaks to our contemporary moment because it is an up-to-date reflection of our collective loss. The work provides both an intimate tribute to each fallen soldier as well as a large scale memorial depicting the totality of our loss.

Taubman Museum of Art
110 Salem Avenue, SE
Roanoke, VA 24011

www.taubmanmuseum.org

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