Until…

Tell me why…I don’t like Mondays…Tell me why

This song came across my mind as I was contemplating on this amazing artwork at Carriageworks the other day.

On 29 January 1979, 16 year old girl Brenda Ann Spencer opened fire at a school in San Diego killing two adults, injured eight children and a police officer.

When asked why she did it, her response simply was “I don’t like Mondays.”

Bob Geldof from The Boomtown Rats was doing a radio interview at the time and he read about the incident as the message came out of a telex machine beside him.  He later wrote this song in response to the ruthless act of the psychopath.

…And he can see no reasons…
‘Cause there are no reasons…
What reason do you need to die, die

Sadly, 40 years later, the message of this song is still relevant today. Mass shootings and every day gun violence are still prevalent in USA.

“Until” is an installation created by American artist Nick Cave to raise awareness about the problem of gun violence in America.

On top of those mass shootings carried out by some nutcases every now and then, as an African American artist residing in Chicago, Cave particularly concerns about those racism related gun crimes that happen on a day-to-day basis.

” ‘Until’ is about the urgency I feel as an artist…All too often, we are faced with a history that keeps repeating, one in which gun violence pervades our streets in the hands of both civilians and law enforcement…” said Cave.

If each wind spinner in this exhibition represents a life that was lost due to gun violence each year, then you may want to ask…how many more lives do they need to lose before they realise the right to keep and bear arms is not a human right?! But the right to live free from violence is!