Maya Lin

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Maya 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
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The American Dream

• Maya Lin is the daughter of Chinese
  immigrants. Her parents left China in the 1940s.

http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Lin
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• 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
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• 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
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• 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/
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• 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
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• 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
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• 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
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• 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
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• 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
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• 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
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• 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
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• 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
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• 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
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• 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/

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• 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
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• 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
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• 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/
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• 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/

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• 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