Artistic Responses
In the years following the bombing, many have expressed their grief, shock, and recollections through various forms of creative and artistic expression. The lives of those lost, the experiences of first responders and the people of Lockerbie, and the work of the victims’ survivors have inspired hundreds of books, dramatic works, musical compositions, films, and fine art. Many such responses are created by the families and friends of those whose lives were lost, while others speak to the disaster’s effect on the wider community.
Remembrance Quilt
Proposed by 1998-1999 Remembrance Scholar Kimberly Hamilton, the Remembrance Quilt draws upon the legacy of traditional American memory quilts that began to appear in the early 1800s. The Quilt is composed of 35 individual squares, one for each of the Syracuse University study abroad students killed in the bombing, arranged around a center panel embroidered with Flight of Peace, designed by Jonathan Hoefer ’91. Victims’ families were asked to contribute information and materials to the design of their loved one’s square. Students, members of the campus community, and skilled craftspeople from Hendricks Chapel Quilters collaborated on the Quilt, which was finished for the 10th anniversary of the bombing and later traveled to quilt shows, memorials, and significant locations. The Remembrance Quilt is displayed at Hendricks Chapel during Remembrance Week each year.
This initial design for the Remembrance Quilt was completed by Jeanne Riley, a former administrative assistant to the dean of Syracuse University’s School of Architecture. Riley’s design indicates the placement of each student’s panel, as well as the dimensions of the finished quilt and its components. In addition to the individual squares and the center panel bearing all 35 students’ names, the Quilt includes a dedication square in the lower right corner.
Over 50 volunteers from across campus were involved in the construction of the Remembrance Quilt. Students and staff with no previous quilting experience were guided by Quilt Advisors Jeanne Riley, Flora Dharman, and Candy Crider, and assisted by experts from a number of quilting and sewing businesses and groups in the Syracuse community.
Jonathan Hoefer ’91 was a junior illustration major and the art director for The Daily Orange when he created Flight of Peace. Like Pan Am 103 victim Gary Colasanti, Hoefer was a brother of Sigma Alpha Epsilon. The artwork consists of a dove in flight surrounded by the names of the 35 Syracuse University study abroad students who perished in the bombing. It first appeared in The Daily Orange on December 8, 1989. Prints were sent to the students’ families in April 1990. “Let the work be a symbol of the many intelligent, creative and wonderful students aboard Flight 103,” the accompanying letter read. “Let it also serve as a source of remembrance and love.” Since that time, Flight of Peace has been used not only as the central element of the Remembrance Quilt, but also for stationary, posters, memorial plaques, and other materials commemorating Pan Am Flight 103.
The completed Remembrance Quilt measures 87-inches wide by 91-inches long. Letters sent by the students’ families in reply to a request for materials and information are enclosed in the Quilt’s backing.
Dark Elegy
Suse Lowenstein’s eldest son, Alexander, was among the 35 Syracuse University study abroad students killed in the bombing. As an established sculptor, Lowenstein turned to her art as an outlet for her grief. Beginning as a series of self-portraits, Dark Elegy now includes over 70 sculptures of victims’ women relatives recreating their physical reaction to the news of the death of their loved one. She chose to sculpt the women nude in earth tones to represent the visceral and unifying nature of their shared trauma. “Age, color, race, religion played no role,” Lowenstein states. “At that devastating moment we were all the same.” Placed inside each statue in place of the woman’s heart is a personal memento symbolizing each person she lost — a photograph, poem, piece of jewelry, or clothing — given by the subject to Lowenstein. Each statue is also inscribed with both the subject’s and the victim’s names. Selections from Dark Elegy have been exhibited on campus at Syracuse University as well as in many galleries and public locations.
Each completed piece which Dark Elegy comprises has a steel armature covered by molded wire, synthetic stone, and fiberglass. The earth-tone colors of the figures range from pale yellow to dark brown with lighter colors representing those subjects the artist perceives as more emotionally fragile. Lowenstein reserves darker tones for those figures who appear to her to be more stoic. “My hope is that Dark Elegy becomes a reminder showing what hate can do, both to people and to countries,” Lowenstein writes in her artist’s statement. “It should be a reminder that life is fragile and that we can lose that which is most precious to us so easily.”
Public installations of Dark Elegy began in June 1989 at the Elaine Benson Gallery in Bridgehampton, New York. Portions of the work have been on display at town halls, sculpture showcases, and university campuses throughout the east coast. From September 1995 though May 1996, a selection of 35 sculptures from the piece were displayed on the Syracuse University campus in front of Lyman Hall. Viewers were encouraged to walk in and amongst the work in order to experience its full emotional impact. Dark Elegy is currently housed on Lowenstein’s property in Montauk, New York. Efforts to find a permanent public home for this work dedicated to all victims of terrorism continue.
Lowenstein’s process for each sculpture included in Dark Elegy begins with photographing her subject. The women pose for Lowenstein in her studio at her home in Montauk, New York. Lowenstein then creates a maquette — or sculptor’s preliminary model — of each subject before constructing the final sculpture. These maquettes are presented to the subject of each piece by Lowenstein. The example seen here is the figure of Helen Tobin, mother of Syracuse University study abroad student and Pan Am 103 victim Mark Tobin.