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Composer: Marcus Norris

Year: 2022

Instrumentation: String Quartet and Percussion Ensemble 

Duration: 13 minutes

About the Work: 

Annie Stevens and Virginia Tech commissioned me to write a suite of miniatures responding to a series of interviews done as part of the “ Monument Dissected: Engaging Public Art and Contested Spaces” project. This collaborative work, produced by Merideth Drum, “centers around a growing collection of audio interviews about the past, present, and future of confederate and colonial monuments in the US.”

My initial working title was “Burn it All”, and that was my stance on the confederate monuments. I realized that this is reflective of my view of art and artists. While it is useful to have diplomatic politicians, I don’t know that the world needs diplomatic artists.

While composing, I drew inspiration from having harmful memories, painful reminiscing, cross-generational-trauma, misremembering, and misinterpretation. The title comes from one of the interviews in which when asked about what statues should replace the confederate monuments, the interviewee answers that it should be replaced by the work of a local artist. In the past I’ve focused in on the problems, which “Burn It All” would have done, but now I’m trying to orient myself towards solutions: “The Land Makes Her Own Artists.”

-Marcus Norris

The piece was commissioned by Virginia Tech, with support from the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology Major Sead Grant Award.