User:BFlower

Blowin' In The Wind is an effort created by people who wanted to make a visible statement about one aspect of the human cost of the U.S. Occupation of Iraq.

In Spring 2006, a few people working together at a Community College in San Luis Obispo were posting, outside their offices, the numbers of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq. 2000, 2147, 2256, 2489, . . . But the numbers made little impact on those who saw them. They felt felt they had to find a way to individualize the numbers, to make them meaningful, so they decided to create a flag for each U.S. soldier killed in Iraq since March 21, 2003. The flags are modeled on Tibetan prayer flags, traditionally used in healing ceremonies. The Tibetan name for “prayer flag” is Lungta, which means Wind Horse; “prayer” means to make a passionate plea, to focus attention.

The Iraq War Prayer Flags that they began making when the death toll was about 2500—they now have made more than 4,000—acknowledge the soldiers with their name, age, and date of death. They named this effort Blowin’ In The Wind, hoping that anyone seeing the flags will look into their hearts and minds and find an answer. The flags have been displayed several times at events in San Luis Obispo county during the last two years, including a procession of more than 900 people carrying the flags through the streets of San Luis Obispo in March 2007. They always flew these flags with profound respect and sorrow in the hope that they could soon cease making flags for those who die as a result of this continuing occupation.

During the two years of this project, dozens of people have worked on it: tearing the sheet material, writing the names, sewing the hems, cording the flags, gluing them in place, cutting and drilling poles, hanging the flags, carrying the flags in processions, reading the names in public, publicizing, and designing and implementing a permanent installation.

The more than 4,000 flags that represent the first five years of the U.S. Occupation of Iraq are now in a permanent installation designed by a local artist for Memorial Day 2008. The large wind sculpture stands on a hillside overlooking the Pacific Ocean, between Cambria and Morro Bay. The inverted v-shape of the site work, with the more than 4,000 white flags aligned row upon row, shimmering in the wind, references the shape of the Viet Nam Memorial and echoes the ceremony of Tibetan prayer flags.

The lyrics of Bob Dylan's "Blowin In The Wind" express the sentiments of the creators of this work:"How many times must the cannon balls fly before they're forever banned" The answer, my friend, is blowin in the wind, the answer is blowin in the wind."

This sculpture is installed in its final resting place and represents the culmination of Blowin’ In The Wind’s original intent: to visibly expose the human cost of war.

To focus solely on the message, those who have been part of BITW wish to remain anonymous.

(Blowin’ In The Wind realizes that hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians have also died and their deaths are as agonizing as any; we have always supported efforts at acknowledging them.)