Myth America

Myth America | Charles Shilliday

We know that art is often born of calamity. Throughout history artists have created works that were inspired and affected by wars, political strife, economic upheaval and cultural intolerance.

As Arthur C. Danto wrote in the preface to the exhibit he curated in 2005, The Art of 9/11, “even the most ordinary people respond to tragedy with art.“ He was speaking specifically of the anonymous shrines left at various locations in the neighborhood of ground zero.

Additionally and alternatively, artist Eric Fischal sculpted a bronze statue entitled, “Tumbling Woman” which was installed at the Rockefeller Center in 2002, only to be quickly covered up and later removed a week later. Apparently, many citizens of New York found the work in poor taste.

Since the early ’90s, I’ve completed three installments of a photographic series entitled, “Myth America”. One was part of a larger group exhibit curated by jake moore called “Portage & Main”, the second was installed in the entrance to the Winnipeg bus terminal, while the third adorned the sides of twenty local transit buses during the Pan-Am games.

It’s a series I continue to visit and consider and hope to eventually complete. Ever since the attacks on the World Trade Center I’ve expected to include some aspect of the events in another version of this project.

I should clarify that when using the term myth, I mean it in its original sense, mythos, not in the way people erroneously use it today – that is, as a metaphor for falsehood. The word that should be used in that context is fallacy.

The image above may or may not be part of a “Myth America IV”. Either way, I’m glad it’s finally finished.