Steven Sotloff Memorial Art Installation/Opening
Tracy Ellyn Fine Arts
May. 12, 2024 - May. 12, 2021
The Steven Sotloff Memorial Art piece by American artist Tracy Ellyn will be installed at Greenspoon Marder Foundation opening on May 12, 2015. The Sotloff family will represent their 2lives Foundation (www.2livesfoundation.org) which they created in the slain journalist’s memory in order to give scholarships to talented young journalists who have a passion for reporting from conflict-torn areas, as well as to bring about necessary changes in Washington DC regarding hostages policies.
The 6 feet tall memorial artwork is created with multiple layers of the artist’s drawing, painting and writing, and tells a symbolic and metaphorical story of Steven Sotloff’s life and work, without any reference to his likeness nor the cause of his tragic death.
While most memorials rely on the heaviness of concrete, casting or sculpture, this Sotloff memorial was created to bear witness to the lightness of life and soul, being barely 1 mm thick and feather weight in spite of its 6 foot height.
It is the hope of the artist that the memorial brings solace to Steven’s family, peace to the region and changes to hostage policies in Washington DC.
Mostly, the story of Steven Sotloff needs to be “not swept under the rug,” as this grandson of Holocaust survivors and ISIS hostage wrote to his family in one letter he smuggled out while held hostage. History does repeat itself, as we have all seen this past year on international news, in very ugly ways. May his story, and the layered metaphorical chapters of this memorial piece, bring both insight and change for generations to come.
Please contact the artist at www.tracyellyn.com for further information on how story and symbolism are used in the memorial.
Please contact www.2livesfoundation.com for further information on the important work they are doing.