Memorial Day Weekend Workshop at TAPS National Military Survivor Seminar and Good Grief Camp - Group II

May 25 -- 27, 2018

In collaboration with Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors

For the 2018 Memorial Day weekend, writes of passage traveled to washington, d.c. to work with The tragedy assistance program for survivors (TAPS) during their national military survivor seminar and good grief camp. the workshop was run with two groups, with a total participant count of 100 people. the people who participated in the workshop included the relatives of our fallen heroes and their mentors who are currently enlisted in the military. below are the curated paintings and their responses.

"The painting that I feel drawn to is Allée of Chestnut Trees by Alfred Sisley because it takes me to a more relaxed time in my life. Before my father died, we would always visit a park in my neighborhood together. When I look at this painting, I envision my dad and can almost feel his love in my presence. I haven't felt this close to him since he passed. I never thought about how a painting could transport me to another happier and more peacetime time and place. This painting somehow captures all of the clarity and calmness that I felt before the storm of my his passing. Being able to revisit this time of my and his life through this painting is freeing. This painting brings me closer to my dad and gives me the peace that I am often searching for when I am overcome with grief."

"The Scream and The Course of Empire both piqued my interest. The Scream elicits a memory of a time back in Iraq when life became hazy for several days in August of 2007. I feel this memory because, in that moment, everything faded and swirled together, just as the background does in the painting. The Scream is a painting like no other because it captures raw emotions. I like how it focuses on the face and emotions, while everything seems to melt away. This is how I felt for those days in Iraq in August, 2007. This painting transports me back to that place and time in my life. I also connected this moment in my life to Thomas Cole's The Course of Empire. It stirs an inquisitiveness, forcing me to ask 'what happened and why.' As I often do, it makes me ponder the human experience and the continuation of all else. Life goes on. The sun will rise again."

"The Scream by Edvard Munch makes me reconsider how I react to the loss that I have endured. When someone you love dies in such a graphic way, it is impossible not to feel the emotion and confusion that I see in the painting. The curved and distorted background convey just how upset the person screaming is. Sometimes, my world looks like this painting. Nothing feels normal. Everything looks strange. In these moments, I can't see or feel anything but anger, sadness, and overflowing emotions. I feels better to know that I am not alone; Edvard Munch clearly knows what this feels like. I finally feel like there is something that captures a piece of my grief journey and my feelings."

"As I look at the series depicted in Thomas Cole's The Course of Empire, my awareness of birth and death and their impact on my life is emphasized. As I learned through brother's death and the painting shows just how quickly moods and times change. The paintings show everything from a distance that shows the build-up of life that is being created, but how quickly everything can be demolished in a blink. These paintings remind me of camping, going to the park, and visiting the city as a kid. The painting that captures the empire on fire reminds me of what my life felt like when my brother died. Right now, I feel like I am in the last painting of the series, trying to assess and rebuild what was broken by the storm."

"I feel like Edvard Munch's The Scream is describing life. The individual is perceived as screaming. The picture shows him as someone who is "different." He looks foreign, as if he in an alien. I think he is screaming because he is different and society around him is not accepting. This treatment makes his pain so much worse. Screaming helps him cope. Screaming helps me cope. When things get stressful or I remember my grief, I feel like this "different" person who is ignored by others. I am this person who is screaming in this painting."

"I really love the last painting titled Desolation in Thomas Cole's series The Course of Empire. It elicited a feeling of defeat. This was my favorite painting because it shows what was and not what could be. I wish our world had more of this. This painting reminds me of why I love art and can envision myself in it. This painting holds so many truths, but doesn't use any words. Art is a way to speak without opening your mouth. It is easier for me to connect with art that to connect with words because art is another language with no barriers."

"The Stormy Coast after a Shipwreck reminds me of the hope that I really needed to feel after my family's loss, tragedy, and pain, which made me lose all hope. for a long time. I like this painting because it shows a person's ability to help one in need. This is what gives me hope. I relate to the people's sense of ease when they know that after pain and suffering, shown here as a shipwreck, someone will always be there. This painting makes me remember and grateful for how my family, friends, and TAPS have helped me through hard times."

"I like the sequence of paintings in The Course of Empire the most because the cycle of all the paintings is accurate. The first picture has a sun rising and it keeps following the course of the daily sun's rotation. What makes this unique is that the sun's positions make it seems as though it all all happens in one day. There is a calming sense of coming full circle with the cycle of nature and its conflict with man. Even as they tried to conquer nature, they destroyed themselves, and nature prevailed."

"Allée of Chestnut Trees brings me to my mental happy place. Here, I feel removed from tragedy and upset. I feel close to the ones I love whom I have lost. Everything feels beautiful and calm, just how it is in this painting. I know that life isn't always a serene scene like this one, but it helps to have a place like this to escape to, from time to time."

"The Course of Empire made me feel enlightened. It helped me understand that nature will always run its course. It also shows that despite our decisions, there will always be one constant: our lack of control. I also felt a certain transcendence. They transcend the reality of how finite we are as beings. The development of our civilizations will rise or fall, but despite that, nature will always prevail and prosper. Through experience I have learning that we are not permanent."

"Allée of Chestnut Trees makes me feel the tranquility and happiness that I hope to fill my life with. It makes me remember other memories with my dad before he died that gave me this same feeling of peacefulness. I like to feel this calmness again."

"As I look at all the different stages in The Course of Empire and how it is a model for life, I wonder which painting I am currently in. If my life is an example of this where I am on the "course" I would say I have just passed the Destruction phase, and I am entering Desolation and rebuilding everything that was destroyed, broken, or damaged. Modeling life on this series, I would say that the first stage is birth to teen, young adulthood, parenthood, middle age, and then the end of life. Although my grandfather's cycle was cut short by death, my family and I will follow this cycle with small destructions and rebuilding throughout the rest of our lives."

"The Scream is a visual representation of my anxiety. It is like a release for the constantly building pressure. On the inside, we are stressed and our world may appear to be falling apart, but no one else may notice it or see the world this same way that you do. I feel frustrated and confused at times but cannot find a way to express it other than screaming to let all my emotions out."

"Allée of Chestnut Trees by Alfred Sisley makes me feel comfort and tranquility. It gives me a hopefulness of how I want to live my life, to be at peace with myself and with nature. I love the simplicity of the painting. It is realistic, to an extend. I love the choice to blend the colors of the tree tops and the sky. I enjoy being outside the the relaxation of walking down a path while contemplating my inner thoughts. Overall, it gives me a place of peace where I feel at home. The Fisherman at Sea by J.M.W. Turner reminds me of when I went kayaking in Puerto Rico. I went out into the marshes at dusk and kayaked into a lagoon a few miles away. We had to separate ourselves from the light pollution of the city to see the plankton glow. At that moment, you could see every star in the sky with such clarity and beauty and I felt at peace. The first painting in Thomas Cole's The Course of Empire really resonates with me. The painting captures the fact that nature itself, in all of its simplicity, is breath taking. These paintings resurface memories of peacefulness and being whole and present in a single moment. It is incredible how an artists is able to bring you to a time and place so far removed from the experience we encounter today. For example, it is difficult to image the time of the empire in existence. I would love to work on channeling the creative side of my brain more often to express myself, so that I can relieve tension in stressful situations."

"Stormy Coast Scene After a Shipwreck, despite the visible tragedy, is calm because loss and upset are always around the corner and we need to be mentally and physically prepared for such a disturbance. I can relate to this painting because I do a lot of sailing. From experience, I know that the climate and behavior of the water can change in a blank. The tragedy in this painting is overwhelming and really takes over the painting despite the person who is helping."

"I really liked the painting The Course of Empire because it shows just how inevitable rises and falls are. I love history and this painting sparked my imagination because it looks like an ancient empire. I believe that everyone is able to relate to the series because it depicts birth, growth, stability, crisis, and death. I will also be destroyed eventually like the empire in the picture."

"Allée of Chestnut Trees by Alfred Sisley piqued my interest because nature is where I go to relieve stress and level myself. It brought back feelings of when I was going through very low moments surrounding my loss. Another painting, Fisherman at Sea, reminds me of some of my favorites movie scenes that show the open sea. I can relate to the mood of this painting because although something may look dangerous and scary, people push past their fears and emotions to do something important. I tend to push through anything, even when I know that I need assistance. I relate the fisherman in this way. Despite a situation that appears dangerous, he is working through it on his own. This painting makes me recognize that while this may not be productive or helpful, it is how I cope."

"In The Course of Empire, the artist highlights a common occurrence by drawing focus to or away from something. Our personal experiences may cause us to feel an increase in emotion or feel a different emotion that the one intended by the artist. This painting is a reminder that people can focus on petty or superficial things and destroy what is important around them. A beautiful place is found and destroyed to fit our society and we take what we want without respecting where we got it from. We leave the land devastated. But it is what remains after we have moved on that tells an important story. Allée of Chestnut Trees makes me feel like I am in a park and feeling a warm summer breeze and smelling flows. I like to write, paint, and draw to express myself. It is the only way that I feel like I can clearly convey my emotions in a productive way."

"The painting that piqued my interest was Fisherman at Sea by J.M.W. Turner. The feelings that it elicited were those of peace and relaxation. Although fishing in the deep sea is dangerous and often rocky, this ship looks fine and as if it were on a relatively calm sea. This reminds me a lot of life because life is full of ups and downs, like a boat on the ocean. This is my favorite piece because of the colors and context of the painting. The color scheme is all the cool colors on a palette. It contains blues, greens, and purples. The context of this painting makes it my favorite because of the ship. This ship can represent me and the ocean can represent life. The contrast of the light from the moon against the ocean is what really resonated a feeling of peace within me. This painting invokes the memory of what life has been like since we lost my uncle and grandfather. This painting represents not just the turbulence of life, but its calmness, too. This is because although life can be challenging, there are times of calmness."

Fishermen at Sea, J. M. W. Turner

The Scream, Edvard Munch

Stormy Coast Scene after a Shipwreck, Unknown

The Course of Empire, Thomas Cole

Allée of Chestnut Trees, Alfred Sisley