Art of Aftermath: A Sociological Study of the Visual Culture of Commemorative Art and Its Impact on the Collective Memory of a Natural Disaster

Art can be a powerful storytelling tool to illustrate the experience of natural disaster. Art has been used as a pathway to channel fear, anxiety occasioned by the unpredictability of nature.Through commemorative art, historical knowledge is transformed into collective memory where past experiences of a natural disaster are interpreted in emotionally charged ways; transforming people’s social identities as they evolve into actors and participants and no longer remain an audience of the artwork.This form of art uses inbuilt memory of a local community to help shape resilience pathways through creation of collective memory. Natural disasters because of their magnitude and incomprehensibility may sometimes stun the community into silence and even block artistic imagination. The artist may be caught in the dilemma of whether to let the experience of the disaster fade away from memory or whether to express this experience in the form of art. The artist may also need to distance themselves from the experience of the disaster to make their art a powerful tool for collective memory creation by inspiring the members of the community to not only remember their experience of the disaster but also to inspire them to re-member (raising community solidarity). This research uses narrative analysis of community interviews and content analysis of commemorative artwork to answer two research questions—a) is natural disaster inspired commemorative art reflective of collective memory of the natural disaster? and b) is natural disaster inspired commemorative art an important tool for building community resilience? Commemorative art emerges as a tool that upholds the past as an object of sacred attachment and as a ritual that ensures collective healing. While the need for commemorative art is occasioned by exigency to provide financial assistance to the affected, calamity-induced art can be transcendental and bridge the gap between everyday living and environmentalism.