The world’s first dedicated Humanitarian Aid Memorial is set to come to Gunnersbury, the Gunnersbury Museum and Park Development Trust has announced and members of the public are being invited to take part in a consultation about it.
Internationally acclaimed artist Michael Landy, CBE, RA has been commissioned to deliver a memorial that celebrates the work and lives of humanitarians across the globe, many of whom have helped people in our own communities in Hounslow and Ealing.
Gunnersbury is holding a consultation about the memorial until the end of July, with representatives from the Memorial Committee.
Mr Landy has developed the memorial design through collaboration with the Committee and Contemporary Art Society *Consultancy. His proposal is for a work of art that creates a space for people to walk around, through and become a part of and would be the artist’s first publicly sited work. It would be the first permanent memorial to humanitarian workers and would aim to give friends and relatives a dedicated place close to the Round Pond to gather and reflect on their loved ones’ sacrifices and celebrate their work.
The Committee would like to gift the memorial to the local authority, who will pass over care for the work to Gunnersbury Park and Museum. The Committee has raised all of the funds necessary to make the memorial and has set aside an endowment fund to be used to pay for care and maintenance of the work.
For more than five years, the Committee has worked with the artist and Contemporary Art Society to secure the right location for this important memorial. Previous discussions with sites managed by Historic England, the City of London and the University of Manchester have been enthusiastic, but the specific requirements of the memorial were not able to be met.
The World Humanitarian Day event held every August at Westminster Abbey would move to an annual event hosted by Gunnersbury Park, with a programme of linked events and outreach sharing the messages of humanitarian work and encouraging local people to learn more.
A final consultation event will be held on 26 July, when Mr Landy will host a public event from 7-9pm. He will deliver a brief lecture on works like Breakdown, 2001, in which he catalogued and destroyed all of his possessions in a disused department store on Oxford Street and Acts of Kindness for Art on the Underground in 2011.
The evening will continue with a round table discussion between Mr Landy, Humanitarian Aid Committee members, Gunnersbury’s David Bowler and Contemporary Art Society’s Jordan Kaplan.
The Consultation questionnaire will close on 27 July – to take part, click here.
