Park of the Laments 2010

Alfredo Jaar created this space for lamenting at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. It's like descending into the earth, literally and metaphorically. I can only imagine what Jaar was thinking when he made this. A park specifically for lament? It makes me wonder, how do you even begin to design a space for such a heavy emotion? I picture Jaar carefully selecting each stone, each plant, considering how they would contribute to the overall feeling of the space. Maybe he wanted to create a place where people could feel safe enough to express their sadness, a space where grief could be acknowledged and honored. It's a radical idea, really, to create a space dedicated to sadness. It's almost like he's giving us permission to feel, to mourn, to be human. And in that, there's a strange kind of beauty.