May 30, 2023 • 9 mins
Today we are talking about Chinese-American activist and artist Maya Lin, and all the work she has done in the world of Human Rights and environmental activism.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to Steph
Whenever told your production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
And welcome to feminists around the world. And yeah, we're
ending AAPI History Month. It is the thirtieth of May.
Just to twenty twenty three, just to put a timestamp,
because you know you may be listening ten years down
the road and be like what, but yeah, for us recording,
it is the end of AAPI History Month. And we
wind in with the Chinese American artists who's been using
(00:41):
her talents to advocate for the environment and human rights
issues all over the world. It is still using our
talent today to make powerful statements. And we are talking
about and celebrating the works of Maya Lynn. Lynn is
an architect, designer, and artists who's been designing for decades
and has been celebrated for her work and advocacy. As
(01:01):
one article from PBS dot org set about Lynn's journey.
One of the rare few who have managed to forge
a path in both art and architecture, maaln is at
once sculptor, architect, designer, craftsman, and thinker, says art critic
Michael Brinson. Since she founded her own Studio in nineteen
eighty six. Maya Linn has been proposing ways of thinking
and imagining that resist categories, genres, and borders, said Brinson,
(01:24):
and her works have touched people in a way unprecedented
in contemporary art and architecture. Whether creating public or private
art or architectural works, Maya Linn creates places of refuge
and contemplation in highly publized places. She has redefined the
idea of monument, addressing the critical social and political issues
of our time, war, racism, and gender equality with her
(01:46):
highly acclaimed work.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Lynn was born in Ohio in nineteen fifty nine to
Henry Kwan Linn and Julia Chang Lin, who had both
immigrated from China. Both of her parents were not only educators,
but artists as well. In fact, it has been said
that Lynn's aunt, Lynn Huiyin, was known as the first
woman architect in modern China. Her father was the dean
(02:09):
of the Ohio University of Fine Arts and her mother
was professor of Literature of the same university. And as
a daughter of educators, she spent a lot of time
in her youth studying rather than playing with other children.
While she was attending high school, Lynn took courses at
the Ohio University and even learned to cast bronze at
that time. She went on to attend Yale University, where
(02:31):
she graduated with the bachelor's in Arts and continued with
a master's degree in architecture.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Right and one of her main focuses in her work
has been on nature and environmental issues. Here's a quote
from her site. Nature and the environment have long been
a central concern for Lynn, who attended Yale University. When
she earned a BA in nineteen eighty one and a
Master's of Architecture degree in nineteen eighty six, Lynn was
thrust into the spotlight with as a senior at Yale,
(02:57):
she submitted the winning design in a national competition for
the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to be built in Washington. D
c Lin's art explores how we experience and relate to landscape,
setting up a systemic ordering of the land that is
tied to history, memory, time, and language. Her interest in
landscape has led to works influenced by topographies and geographic phenomena.
(03:17):
And another quote from the PBS article, it says, quote
throughout Violin's body of work is a profound respect and
love for the natural environment. Her interest in landscape has
led to works influenced by natural topographies and geologic phenomenon,
finding inspirations from rock formations to ice floes, water patterns,
solar eclips and aerial views of the Earth. Influenced by
(03:38):
the earth artists of the sixties and seventies, Linn brings
a very contemporary perspective to the theme of landscape by
merging the rational order of high technology with the transcendental
and irregular forms of nature.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
And it was at the age of twenty one that
Lynn designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial as a class project,
and though she had one out of fourteen hundred other submissions,
she faced a lot of controversy and criticism. Here's a
quote about her project and the criticism. Her striking proposal,
a vwshaped wall of blackstone etched with the names of
(04:10):
fifty eight thousand dead soldiers, beat out the submissions of
fourteenenty twenty other entrants. She encountered ferocious criticism when her
unconventional design was selected. And here's another quote. Her winning
design was initially controversial for several reasons. Its minimalist design,
her lack of professional experience, and her Asian ethnicity. According
(04:32):
to one writer quote, some viewed her selection as an affront.
They could not understand how a woman, a youth, and
a Chinese American could design a memorial for men, for soldiers,
and for Americans. Some objected to the exclusion of the
surviving veteran's names, while others complained about the dark complexion
of the granite, claiming that it expressed a negative attitude
(04:55):
towards the Vietnam War.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Yeah, and apparently this was a blind interest. And she
has said before that it if it had not been
for that, she probably would not have won. And here's
what she had to say about the memorial, and it's
from her site. One of my classmates had seen the
poster for a competition for the design of a Vietnam
Veterans memorial, and since we had just completed an assignment
for the design of a memorial to World War IIE,
(05:18):
we chose to end this class with this project. In
researching for the World War assignment, I had noticed how
war memorials often focused on the victor rather than on
the individual soldiers' lives. Until the memorials to World War
One in Europe. Those monuments were created listing all the
names of soldiers lost in the battles. The use of
identification tags had not yet been introduced, and with the
(05:40):
onset of modern warfare, there was no way to recognize
and identify so many of the soldiers. So many of
the monuments were erected to the missing, with all the
names of those killed that listed. I was struck by
how emotionally powerful they were, and I knew that I
wanted to create a work that would focus as well
on the individuals. On seeing the site in Washington, d C.
Over thanks gaping break, I had an impulse to cut
(06:01):
open the earth. I imagine cutting into the earth and
polishing its open sides like a geode. We had also
just received the guidelines for the competition, which stipulated that
the names of those killed be listed and that the
memorial be a political and contemplative in nature. My design
evolved into two black granite walls placed below grade, engraved
in chronological order with the names of the men and
(06:23):
women who gave their lives in the Vietnam War. At
the apex where the two walls joined, the dates nineteen
fifty nine and nineteen seventy three marking the beginning and
end of the war meet, thus closing the circle of
the time span of the war. Avarian confined his or
her own time on the wall, and all visitors would
be able to see themselves reflected in the names. I
(06:43):
wanted the memorial to create a private and personal connection
with each viewer to those names. The memorial sighting is
directly related to the presence of both the Lincoln Memorial
and Washington Monument, tying the three together physically and historically.
The semester ended, and I decided to enter the design
in the actual competition that spring, not because I had
any thought it could win, but because I wanted to
(07:04):
say something about making this memorial personal, human and focused
on the individual experience. I wanted to honestly present that
time and reflect upon our relationship to war and to loss.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Yeah, but the memorial wasn't her only notable works. She
also designed the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, am Obama,
the Peach Chapel at Pennsylvania's Juniata College, the Women's Table
at Yale, and the Langston Hughes Library in Clinton, Tennessee.
But art and architecture haven't been the only thing she
has been working on. She has served as advisor on
(07:37):
Sustainable Energy Use and served as a board member for
the National Resources Defense Council, and her works have earned
her many accolades, including being awarded the National Medal of
Arts by President Obama in two thousand and nine and
given the Presidential Medal of Freedom in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Right, And if you want to learn more of her work,
she has both a book and an Academy Award winning documentary.
You can catch the book titled Boundaries, which she did, right,
and the documentary titled Maya Lynn A Strong Clear Vision
that was from nineteen ninety four, I believe, so it's
a little outdated, but obviously she has a lot of
amazing works out there. And in twenty twenty two, the
(08:14):
Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery exhibited the first biographical exhibit titled
One Life Maya Linn, which was dedicated to her works
and her contributions. Yeah, so she obviously is still getting
a lot of recognition. She's still doing a lot of work.
They are just recent projects that she's completed that they're
still writing about it. I believe one of them was
like her final project, but then she ended up doing
(08:35):
another one so I'm sure there's much much more out there.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
I feel like that's the way. Your question is the end,
and then wait a minute, called I'm called to do Yes. Well,
I'm sure we'll be checking back in in the meantime.
As always, listeners, if you have a suggestion for this
segment or anything. Any of our segments are episodes. We
(09:00):
have so many things going on. You can email us
at Stephania mom Stuff at iHeartMedia dot com. You can
find us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast, or on
Instagram and TikTok at stuff one. Never told you. We're
also on YouTube. We have a book you can pre
order a stuff you should read books dot com. No
Academy award yet, We'll see Thanks as always too, our
(09:24):
super producer Christina, our executive producer Maya, and our contributor Joey.
Thank you all, and thanks to you for listening. Steffan
never told you this production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts
from my Heart Radio, you can check out the iHeart
Radio app, Apple podcast wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to Steph
Whenever told your production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
And welcome to feminists around the world. And yeah, we're
ending AAPI History Month. It is the thirtieth of May.
Just to twenty twenty three, just to put a timestamp,
because you know you may be listening ten years down
the road and be like what, but yeah, for us recording,
it is the end of AAPI History Month. And we
wind in with the Chinese American artists who's been using
(00:41):
her talents to advocate for the environment and human rights
issues all over the world. It is still using our
talent today to make powerful statements. And we are talking
about and celebrating the works of Maya Lynn. Lynn is
an architect, designer, and artists who's been designing for decades
and has been celebrated for her work and advocacy. As
(01:01):
one article from PBS dot org set about Lynn's journey.
One of the rare few who have managed to forge
a path in both art and architecture, maaln is at
once sculptor, architect, designer, craftsman, and thinker, says art critic
Michael Brinson. Since she founded her own Studio in nineteen
eighty six. Maya Linn has been proposing ways of thinking
and imagining that resist categories, genres, and borders, said Brinson,
(01:24):
and her works have touched people in a way unprecedented
in contemporary art and architecture. Whether creating public or private
art or architectural works, Maya Linn creates places of refuge
and contemplation in highly publized places. She has redefined the
idea of monument, addressing the critical social and political issues
of our time, war, racism, and gender equality with her
(01:46):
highly acclaimed work.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Lynn was born in Ohio in nineteen fifty nine to
Henry Kwan Linn and Julia Chang Lin, who had both
immigrated from China. Both of her parents were not only educators,
but artists as well. In fact, it has been said
that Lynn's aunt, Lynn Huiyin, was known as the first
woman architect in modern China. Her father was the dean
(02:09):
of the Ohio University of Fine Arts and her mother
was professor of Literature of the same university. And as
a daughter of educators, she spent a lot of time
in her youth studying rather than playing with other children.
While she was attending high school, Lynn took courses at
the Ohio University and even learned to cast bronze at
that time. She went on to attend Yale University, where
(02:31):
she graduated with the bachelor's in Arts and continued with
a master's degree in architecture.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Right and one of her main focuses in her work
has been on nature and environmental issues. Here's a quote
from her site. Nature and the environment have long been
a central concern for Lynn, who attended Yale University. When
she earned a BA in nineteen eighty one and a
Master's of Architecture degree in nineteen eighty six, Lynn was
thrust into the spotlight with as a senior at Yale,
(02:57):
she submitted the winning design in a national competition for
the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to be built in Washington. D
c Lin's art explores how we experience and relate to landscape,
setting up a systemic ordering of the land that is
tied to history, memory, time, and language. Her interest in
landscape has led to works influenced by topographies and geographic phenomena.
(03:17):
And another quote from the PBS article, it says, quote
throughout Violin's body of work is a profound respect and
love for the natural environment. Her interest in landscape has
led to works influenced by natural topographies and geologic phenomenon,
finding inspirations from rock formations to ice floes, water patterns,
solar eclips and aerial views of the Earth. Influenced by
(03:38):
the earth artists of the sixties and seventies, Linn brings
a very contemporary perspective to the theme of landscape by
merging the rational order of high technology with the transcendental
and irregular forms of nature.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
And it was at the age of twenty one that
Lynn designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial as a class project,
and though she had one out of fourteen hundred other submissions,
she faced a lot of controversy and criticism. Here's a
quote about her project and the criticism. Her striking proposal,
a vwshaped wall of blackstone etched with the names of
(04:10):
fifty eight thousand dead soldiers, beat out the submissions of
fourteenenty twenty other entrants. She encountered ferocious criticism when her
unconventional design was selected. And here's another quote. Her winning
design was initially controversial for several reasons. Its minimalist design,
her lack of professional experience, and her Asian ethnicity. According
(04:32):
to one writer quote, some viewed her selection as an affront.
They could not understand how a woman, a youth, and
a Chinese American could design a memorial for men, for soldiers,
and for Americans. Some objected to the exclusion of the
surviving veteran's names, while others complained about the dark complexion
of the granite, claiming that it expressed a negative attitude
(04:55):
towards the Vietnam War.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Yeah, and apparently this was a blind interest. And she
has said before that it if it had not been
for that, she probably would not have won. And here's
what she had to say about the memorial, and it's
from her site. One of my classmates had seen the
poster for a competition for the design of a Vietnam
Veterans memorial, and since we had just completed an assignment
for the design of a memorial to World War IIE,
(05:18):
we chose to end this class with this project. In
researching for the World War assignment, I had noticed how
war memorials often focused on the victor rather than on
the individual soldiers' lives. Until the memorials to World War
One in Europe. Those monuments were created listing all the
names of soldiers lost in the battles. The use of
identification tags had not yet been introduced, and with the
(05:40):
onset of modern warfare, there was no way to recognize
and identify so many of the soldiers. So many of
the monuments were erected to the missing, with all the
names of those killed that listed. I was struck by
how emotionally powerful they were, and I knew that I
wanted to create a work that would focus as well
on the individuals. On seeing the site in Washington, d C.
Over thanks gaping break, I had an impulse to cut
(06:01):
open the earth. I imagine cutting into the earth and
polishing its open sides like a geode. We had also
just received the guidelines for the competition, which stipulated that
the names of those killed be listed and that the
memorial be a political and contemplative in nature. My design
evolved into two black granite walls placed below grade, engraved
in chronological order with the names of the men and
(06:23):
women who gave their lives in the Vietnam War. At
the apex where the two walls joined, the dates nineteen
fifty nine and nineteen seventy three marking the beginning and
end of the war meet, thus closing the circle of
the time span of the war. Avarian confined his or
her own time on the wall, and all visitors would
be able to see themselves reflected in the names. I
(06:43):
wanted the memorial to create a private and personal connection
with each viewer to those names. The memorial sighting is
directly related to the presence of both the Lincoln Memorial
and Washington Monument, tying the three together physically and historically.
The semester ended, and I decided to enter the design
in the actual competition that spring, not because I had
any thought it could win, but because I wanted to
(07:04):
say something about making this memorial personal, human and focused
on the individual experience. I wanted to honestly present that
time and reflect upon our relationship to war and to loss.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Yeah, but the memorial wasn't her only notable works. She
also designed the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, am Obama,
the Peach Chapel at Pennsylvania's Juniata College, the Women's Table
at Yale, and the Langston Hughes Library in Clinton, Tennessee.
But art and architecture haven't been the only thing she
has been working on. She has served as advisor on
(07:37):
Sustainable Energy Use and served as a board member for
the National Resources Defense Council, and her works have earned
her many accolades, including being awarded the National Medal of
Arts by President Obama in two thousand and nine and
given the Presidential Medal of Freedom in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Right, And if you want to learn more of her work,
she has both a book and an Academy Award winning documentary.
You can catch the book titled Boundaries, which she did, right,
and the documentary titled Maya Lynn A Strong Clear Vision
that was from nineteen ninety four, I believe, so it's
a little outdated, but obviously she has a lot of
amazing works out there. And in twenty twenty two, the
(08:14):
Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery exhibited the first biographical exhibit titled
One Life Maya Linn, which was dedicated to her works
and her contributions. Yeah, so she obviously is still getting
a lot of recognition. She's still doing a lot of work.
They are just recent projects that she's completed that they're
still writing about it. I believe one of them was
like her final project, but then she ended up doing
(08:35):
another one so I'm sure there's much much more out there.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
I feel like that's the way. Your question is the end,
and then wait a minute, called I'm called to do Yes. Well,
I'm sure we'll be checking back in in the meantime.
As always, listeners, if you have a suggestion for this
segment or anything. Any of our segments are episodes. We
(09:00):
have so many things going on. You can email us
at Stephania mom Stuff at iHeartMedia dot com. You can
find us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast, or on
Instagram and TikTok at stuff one. Never told you. We're
also on YouTube. We have a book you can pre
order a stuff you should read books dot com. No
Academy award yet, We'll see Thanks as always too, our
(09:24):
super producer Christina, our executive producer Maya, and our contributor Joey.
Thank you all, and thanks to you for listening. Steffan
never told you this production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts
from my Heart Radio, you can check out the iHeart
Radio app, Apple podcast wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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