Philip E. Harding

 Artist Vision Statement ­ Nuclear Reliquary Project Proposal

 In a phrase, I want to build several cross-cultural nuclear reliquaries. I live in Richland, Washington next to the Hanford Nuclear reservation in a prefabricated house built for the workers who produced the plutonium used in the bombs tested at Trinity and dropped on Nagasaki. Growing up I have been surrounded by people sworn to secrecy -- a town with more police per person than anywhere else in the state where there is no such thing as an unguarded remark about the nuclear industry. As an artist, I am not sworn to secrecy. While I am guarded and respectful, I do have something to say.

 In the last few years, many home owners have been replacing their old prefab windows with new ones. I am salvaging these windows and constructing boxes in which to set up sculptural installations in the spirit of small shrines or reliquaries. What I would like to do is create an installation with materials from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I want to juxtapose Richland windows, made for people who made bombs, with materials affected by those bombs. I don't want something clichéd, but something simple such as burned stones whose associations are more esoteric than overt. I plan to spend some time in each of these cities where I expect the appropriate materials will present themselves.

 Besides this particular window box series, I am exploring additional ideas regarding reliquaries and shrines. Once it is decided that a thing has meaning and value, the way in which it is preserved and tended becomes a powerful affirmation of that value. A profound expression of this idea is the rebuilding project of the Grand Shrines of Ise.

 In 1993 the most recent rebuilding was begun. It is my hope to go there before the old shrine is completely dismantled. When the old shrine is removed, its parts are made available to other shrines for repairs. It is my sincerest hope that something of the old shrine, if only a few pounds of thatch from its roof, could be made available to me for my sculpture. Creating a basket or nest of thatch in which to cradle artifacts from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, placed in a reliquary box built of Richland windows, could be a very compelling image.

 Even if materials from Ise's Naiku and Geku shrines are not available, there are more than one hundred and twenty lesser shrines centered around the two main shrines. I plan to spend some time at Ise where I expect to find tremendous inspiration just being in their presence. My work is less an impassioned statement about nuclear war than about veneration and remembrance. Temples and shrines, with their feeling of solemn serenity, have an essential quality that I want my own nuclear reliquaries to possess.

 * Index

 * Time Capsule essay on culture with an introduction to the art of Philip E. Harding ( 1997 ).

 * Resume ( 1997 ).

 * Philosophical Statement ( 1995 )

 * Arto-biography ( 1994 )

 * Mythologizing Life essay ( 1994 )

 * Common Currency (1996)

 * Virtual Art Gallery ( under construction )