About Dark Elegy
On December 21, 1988, while at 31,000 feet, a terrorist bomb exploded, destroying Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The flight was filled with holiday travelers, most on their way home from London to New York. All 259 passengers and crew perished along with 11 people on the ground. Bodies, effects, debris and wreckage fell over an area of 840 square miles. The recovery process was beyond anyone’s imagination.
Aboard Pan Am 103 were many young people, among them my first born son Alexander, a Syracuse University senior on his way home for Christmas. He had just spend an exciting semester at the Syracuse London campus. Alexander was 21 years old. I was devastated!
As a sculptor, it is natural for me to shape, form and translate my emotions into large human figures. At this point I started creating other figures in various expressions of grief, pain and rage. When other women who had lost loved ones on Pam Am 103 learned of my work, many expressed a desire to contribute to this project called “DARK ELEGY.” One by one they come into my studio, step onto a posing platform, close their eyes and went back to December 21, 1988, to that horrible moment when they learned that their loved one had died. They allowed their bodies to fall into the position that it took upon hearing that most devastating news. Some scream, some beg, some weep, some pray, some curl into a ball, while others raise their fists in anger and despair. This is the moment that I freeze in time. This is the pose that I shape into sculpture. I have asked the women to give me a small memento of their loved one which I then place into the sculpture generally into the heart area. Sometimes it is a show lace, a sock, and earring, a photo, a poem or whatever they wish. One day these items will be found and provoke thoughts and remembrance.
Each figure is inscribed with the names of both the woman posing and that of the person lost. In this way each sculpture becomes a private statement. I believe that is is quite unusual for someone to portray such tragic, raw emotion, not as an outsider looking in, but sadly as one of those portrayed.
All figures are slightly larger than life and are made of synthetic stone and Fiberglass shaped over a welded steel armature and wire. The pieces are weather resistant.
My hope is that “DARK ELEGY” becomes a reminder showing what hate can do, both to people and to countries. It should be a reminder that life is fragile and that we can lose that which is most precious to us so easily, and have to live with that loss for the reminder of our lives.
“DARK ELEGY” is dedicated with deep love to all victims of terrorism.
- Suse Lowenstein
