(12/06/2023) This morning my ritual of making an entry in my visual journal — a journal I have been keeping for close to three decades — took a turn. This was a tragic week for the UNLV community due to a mass shooting that left four people dead and several injured. It is hard to process or make sense of such events. For those of us who have lived in Las Vegas for some time, it was hard not to recall the tragic shooting in 2017 at the Harvest Festival on the Strip that left 59 dead and over 500 injured. To date, this remains the deadliest mass shooting in US history. It is hard to fathom but the US currently averages close to two mass shootings per day — a startling figure considering a mass shooting is defined as one where more than four individuals are killed or injured. Although it did not receive nearly as must press, sadly that same day six people were shot and killed in Austin, Texas.
When life is taken it is always tragic, especially for the individuals who are personally and directly impacted. Yet, I sense as a society, we are all getting numb to the perpetual trauma. When we do carve out time to consider these events, most of us feel overwhelmed and unable to change things for the better. In many ways the best we can do is comfort those in pain and extend tenderness and understanding to those around us. As a maker, I question if any of my work can transcend my personal need to record and process the matter. Regardless, and with humility, I thought I would share my recent journal entry entitled “blood cries out.” This is the haunting phrase God uses in the book of Genesis when he confronts Cain for killing his brother Abel.