For our outside arts event, Abraham, Adam, Katherine, Melissa, Sandy, and I visited the Irish Hunger Memorial, near the World Trade Center in Manhattan. Although we originally planned to visit the museum of feelings (which had a line of approximately an hour and a half), this particular memorial served as an excellent historical substitute.
The Irish Hunger Memorial had a very unique architectural design. The majority of it appeared to be a floating landscape. After researching the location, I found out that it contained soil, stones, and vegetation brought from the west coast of Ireland. Underneath the landscape was some sort of marble wall that had many different quotes about the Irish Potato Famine and world hunger in general. The quotes were illuminated in the night sky by distinct black and white banding patterns. Finally, at the top of the memorial one could enjoy a breath-taking view of the Hudson River.
The Irish Hunger Memorial also had a very poignant and emotional aspect to it, just like the 9/11 memorial. Although not as popular as the 9/11 memorial (probably partially attributed to the fact that we went at around 6 p.m. when it was dark out), one could sense the sorrow that the structure evoked reminding everyone of the horrible famine that occurred between 1845 and 1852.
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