Title: Maya Lin
1Maya Lin the Vietnam Memorial
Presentation by Robert Martinez Images as
cited. Primary Content Source American Lives,
New Readers Press
http//www.mkatakis.org/images/maya_lin.jpg
2The American Dream
- Maya Lin is the daughter of Chinese
immigrants. Her parents left China in the 1940s.
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Lin
3- Her mother was a poet, and taught English and
Asian literature. Her father was a well-known
ceramic artist. He also directed the fine arts
program at Ohio University.
http//www.nytimes.com/2008/03/08/arts/08publ.html
?_r1nTop/Reference/Times20Topics/People/L/Lin,
20Maya
4- Lins parents didnt talk about their past in
China. They didnt teach Lin and her brother the
Chinese language. Lin said she felt more American
than Chinese while she was growing up.
http//topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopic
s/people/l/maya_lin/index.html
5- As a child, Lin was surrounded by artwork and
furniture that her father made. She often made
pottery in her fathers studio at the university.
http//www.flickr.com/photos/31477229_at_N00/38649917
7/
6- In high school, she was interested in modern
European literature. At the same time, she became
interested in death.
http//prelectur.stanford.edu/lecturers/lin/images
/mayalb.jpg
7- After high school, Lin enrolled at Yale
University. She took many trips to the local
cemetery and photographed headstones. She admired
the serenity of the simple designs.
http//freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/
7Elanehistory/Lane20Headstones.jpg
8- In Denmark, she visited a cemetery that was
also used as a park in the summer. Lin saw that
the cemetery was an important part of everyday
life. This use of the cemetery fascinated her.
http//www.stjohnhistoricalsociety.org/Articles/Da
nishCemetery.jpg
9- When she returned to Yale, she enrolled in a
funerary architecture class, a class that studied
memorials for the dead.
http//www.amdoc.org/projects/truelives/pressroom/
mayalin/images/02_mayalin.jpg
10- As a class assignment, the professor asked the
students to enter a nationwide competition to
design the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
http//redmig.com/sp_Vinti_HN_files/image028.jpg
11- The students all went to Washington, D.C. They
visited the location of the future memorial. It
was between the Lincoln Memorial and the Capitol
building.
http//www.visitingdc.com/images/national-mall-at-
night.jpg
12- Lin saw a few people playing catch on the
grass there. They reminded her of the
cemetery-park in Denmark. She got the idea to
build a gravestone in a park.
http//www.stpete.org/HR_Photos/0810.jpg
13- Lin submitted an innovative design for the
competition. She designed two large, black,
granite walls that formed a V shape.
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FileMayaLinsubmissio
n.jpg
14- On the walls would be carved the name of every
American who had died or was missing in the
Vietnam War. Almost 58,000 names would be cut
into the stone.
http//www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/images/at008
27cs.jpg
http//www.amdoc.org/projects/truelives/pressroom/
mayalin/images/05_mayalin.jpg
15- Visitors could touch and photograph the names.
Lin hoped that this experience would comfort
people who had lost loved ones in the war. Lin
won the competition, she was only 21 years old.
http//www.flickr.com/photos/joschmoblo/161648060/
16- When her design became public, its quiet
beauty impressed many people. However, some
veterans groups thought that the design did not
honor the dead and missing soldiers enough.
http//www.usvetdsp.com/maya_lin.jpg
17- They thought that it did not look patriotic.
The groups wanted a statue of a soldier instead.
And some people made racist remarks because of
Lins Asian background.
http//www.usvetdsp.com/maya_lin.jpg
18- Lin was under a lot of pressure to change her
design. But she kept her original plan. As a
compromise, the government allowed the groups who
opposed Lins design to put up a statue.
http//www.flickr.com/photos/mamanance/42856531/
19- The statue shows three servicemen with a U.S.
flag. It stands near the entrance to the
memorial.
http//www.flickr.com/photos/debsmouse/2206524507/
20- The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, built using
Lins design, opened on November 13, 1982. It is
now the most visited memorial in the United
States.
http//www.greenmuseum.org/c/aen/Issues/lin.php