Parkland school shooting survivors share their stories, and help a grieving community heal, in a powerful new exhibition of photos and audio recordings at the Coral Springs Museum of Art.
“Anguish in the Aftermath: Examining a Mass Shooting” is made possible by support from Fundholders at the Community Foundation of Broward. The exhibition features large, black-and-white photos that capture moments with students, teachers and others in interviews about Feb. 14, 2018 – when a gunman killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Paired with each photo is an audio recording of survivors, their families and others touched by the violence. They describe their experiences that day and they answer, “What would you like to see come from this?”
The exhibition’s dozens of photos show survivors wiping away tears, catching their breath or gazing off in the distance.
In the recordings, students describe the sound of gunshots that they still can’t shake from their memories. A teacher talks about hiding dozens of students in an equipment room. A mother and father talk about a child who never came home.
Photographer and Marjory Stoneman Douglas alumnus Ian Witlen said he created the exhibition to be an apolitical account of what people experienced that day. It’s also meant to be a tool that helps this community and others heal from the effects of mass shootings.
The “Anguish in the Aftermath” exhibition will be featured at the Coral Springs Museum of Art through Nov. 9. Witlen then hopes to take it across the state and eventually to other communities that have suffered mass shootings.
The exhibition is a prime example why our Fundholders support Art of Community – one of the 10 Issues That Matter most to Broward’s future. The arts help us heal during difficult times. They connect neighbors. Our Fundholders recognize that the arts are vital to a vibrant and healthy future for Broward.
The “Anguish in the Afterman” exhibition was made possible by support from the following Funds at the Community Foundation of Broward:
Helen and Frank Stoykov Charitable Endowment Fund
Ruth H. Brown Fund for the Arts
Ron Castell Memorial Fund
Leonard & Sally Robbins Fund
Mary N. Porter Community Impact Fund
Harold Rosenberg Fund for Children's Education.
Check out this media coverage of the “Anguish in the Aftermath” exhibition:
WLRN: https://www.wlrn.org/post/anguish-aftermath-msd-survival-stories-art-exhibit-coral-springs
