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Famine Genocide Monument

Located in Jackson Park in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Sand blasted in black granite.

136"H x 62.25"W x 10"D

2005

    In 2002, my husband, Tom Regenbogen and I were commissioned to design a Memorial to over 7 Million Victims of the 1932-33 Famine Genocide in then Soviet Ukraine. The Monument was installed on November13, 2005 as a permanent installation in Queen Elizabeth Gardens, Jackson Park, Windsor, On.

  Our design concepts centred on the premise that while the Memorial should certainly convey in stark and solemn terms the feelings of loss and despair suffered upon the Ukrainian People by the Stalinist/Soviet Regime, it should also possess some sense of Triumph over what was then a total domination of Soviet Communism.

 The Monument is a stark rectangular slab of black granite nearly 12’tall.The Crosses are inscribed as symbols for both sides of the monument. The art side’s pattern of crosses is set against a pitch black background. At the top of the stone, the crosses sit uneasily at angles upon the mounds of mass graves. The disturbed landscape tumbles downwards to the larger crosses and pieces of trampled wheat are scattered as the remains of what has been taken away. The word “MILLIONS” has been repeated 7 times to underline the extent of the losses of the Famine Genocide. The crosses at the bottom third of the monument are more ornate and emerge from this dark past with vitality and new life. They express the triumph of survival over Stalinism, Soviet Communism and Russian domination.

 The map side illustrates both current Ukrainian Lands and those areas at the time which were controlled by Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union. The crosses of 2 sizes indicate areas that suffered more than 25% of their population losses to the famine and areas which had less than 25% of its population as casualties of the famine genocide.

 

 

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