Love and Rockets

The desire to find and keep love is one of the most powerful urges in the human psyche. Violence – the desire to avoid or employ it – often accompanies acts of love.  I am interested in how and why people and organizations use symbols of love and violence in the cultural landscape. The way we use these symbols in our homes, in commerce and in the public space says much about what is valued in America – power, strength, youth, destiny, and the importance of the frontier. Romantic love and military strength have inspired the creation of more objects and images than their less dramatic cousins, for obvious reasons. Hearts, lips, rockets, tanks, and missiles are used to sell and represent adventure, romance, exploration, and even a higher power.  I am interested in the unintentional messages these memorials to love and power exude, as well as the intended messages. I often think of the South Georgia Rotary Club chairman who was so smitten with Titan Missiles (or for what they stood for), that he purchased one, after it was decommissioned, and moved it from its original home in Tucson, Arizona, to a spot alongside an interstate in the deep south. This man could not have foreseen then that signs advertising a strip mall would one day rival the size of the Titan. I wonder how people see that Titan missile now when they pull over for a burger or a tire change. Does it still inspire awe?