Visual Vigil offers a visual language to honor the loss of individuals, communities involved, and the effects of mass violence. “Vigil” means to stay awake to keep watch. Further, we are receiving a startling message to awaken.
The art is the backdrop for a conversation around the societal and psychological effects of mass violence. Visual Vigil invites us to ponder the underlying anxiety and fear that is seeping into our collective psyche due to increased frequency of mass violence. We live in a culture that has regular drills and rehearsals for the presence of gun violence. We all know what “lockdown” means. We are training a whole generation to prepare for an attack. One contemplates the lasting generational effects of living in our current climate of gun violence.
Visual Vigil presents staggering statistics around mass shootings in an approachable way. The repetitive nature of the work highlights the repetitive nature of mass violence. The frequency has grown threefold in recent years. Data from the Gun Violence Archives reveal, on average, there is a mass shooting nine out of ten days. Mass shootings have occurred in almost all fifty states, and in cities of all sizes. Gun violence is no longer just an urban issue—it is now a suburban, small town, and rural issue as well. Mass violence is in lower economic, middle class, and wealthy communities. Furthermore, it is no longer contained within someone else’s neighborhood; it is in all our neighborhoods. It commonly occurs in offices, schools, restaurants, stores, theaters, places of worship, government properties, healthcare facilities, concerts and open spaces. In short, mass violence is everywhere.
Charleston, SC 2015 - 9 fatalities.
Dallas, TX 2016 - 5 fatalities.
Mass shootings are horrific and most acutely affect those directly involved with both short and long-term effects of post-traumatic stress disorder and grief. Yet the impact of repetitive attacks is creating collective trauma and grief for those that have not witnessed first-hand violence. According to a survey by the American Psychological Association and the Harris Poll more than three-quarters of adults (79%) in the U.S. say they experience stress as a result of the possibility of a mass shooting. Mass violence places all our basic assumptions of safety and predictability into question. To live confidently in an open society, we need to be able to rely on the ability to interact with one another without fear, and to have a basic sense of trust and safety. Many adults are changing their behaviors due to fear of mass shootings, like knowing the location of exits, subtle uneasiness in a movie theater, having a plan or avoiding certain places and events.
When faced with the stark reality of gun violence that occurred within blocks of my home, I realized mass violence has arrived in my neighborhood. Though my family and friends were not directly harmed, it affected me profoundly. Through art making, I found a cathartic outlet to express my feelings, compassion and tried to process the senseless violence. Moreover, I began to take note of the societal effects. Mass Shootings seem to raise more awareness to the over all prevalence of gun violence.
I started the Visual Vigil Project for us to stay awake, to prompt discussions between reformers, activists, experts, educators, and survivors on the issues surrounding gun violence in our communities —conversations for change.
Susan Perkins
