Abstract:

This study aims to research the reflection of human-made massacres in history on the works of art and its relationship with the social memory. While the events that change the course of history are transmitted through written and verbal history, the works of art also contribute to the writing of history as visual memory. In other words, many works of art such as war paintings, busts and portraits help us to analyze historical processes as a document and enable to question the history as well. Wars or similar events of violence, which have occurred in almost every nation due to conflicts for religious or political reasons, are also reflected in the practice of art. These events have reached the present day with different periods and artistic styles thanks to the works of art. The Spanish painter Francisco Goya's "The Third of May" (1814) is important in that it shows the scene where people who resisted the French occupation of Spain were executed. The Catalan painter Pablo Picasso's work "Guernica" (1937) is important within the context of depicting the bombing of Guernica by Nazi soldiers during the Spanish Civil War and shows the audience the horror that took place.  Also, Pablo Picasso's another work entitled "Massacre in Korea, 1951" is important as it visualizes the violence committed by American soldiers against the people in Korea. Another painting about the World War II is Zi Jian Li's Great Nanjing Massacre. It is possible to see in Li's works many years after the war the events called "Great Nanjing Massacre" where the Japanese killed about three hundred thousand people in Nanjing province of China during the Second World War. In his work of 1992, the artist depicts a "mountain" of corpses using many figures, revealing the dramatic magnitude of this event that took place in history. In the event called "Sabra and Shatila Massacre", which committed by pro-Israeli Christian militias in 1982 in the Middle East, a region of frequent wars and violence, the extreme rightists attacked the Palestinian refugee camp and killed hundreds of people, including children. The work that Dia al-Azzawi created between 1982-83 after the incident, entitled "Sabra and Shatila Massacre", is like a mourning for the massacre with its size of 300 x 750 cm.  Besides these examples, there are works of art related to massacres in the contemporary art. However, due to the ontological structure of today’s art, it is an interesting feature that distinguishes these works from others that artists prefer a narrative language to recall the events experienced, rather than portraying the massacres directly. Can Togay and Gyula Pauer's "Shoes on the Danube Bank" (2005) is a monumental sculpture that helps us witness the event that took place on the banks of the Danube River in Budapest. Consisting of 60 metal shoes true to their original, this work was created in honor of thousands of Jews who were ordered to take off their shoes and shot and killed by Nazi soldiers during the Second World War. As an example of contemporary art, South African artist Haroon Gunn's "Senzenina" of 2018 is an important work for witnessing the history. Meaning “What Have We Done?” in Zulu and Xhosa language, this work portrays the killing of miners who went on a strike in platinum mine in Marikana (South Africa) in August 2012 by the police. The killing of 34 miners who died in the incident is transmitted to the audience through the installation art.