Cummings School Blog

Wodiczko, Bonder Memorial In Nantes, France Remembered

Nantes History Museum
Image: Memorial to the abolition of slavery, Nantes (Loire-Atlantique) 漏 PHILIPPE PIRON /LVAN

The Memorial to the Abolition of Slavery in Nantes, France, designed by artist Kryzsztof Wodiczko and Julian Bonder, 旺旺资源 Professor of Architecture and ACSA Distinguished Professor, was remembered in the December 2025 issue of One of the key thoughts in the article, among many, by author Krystel Guald茅. 

鈥淲hat the Memorial tells us鈥攕ilently yet with profound force鈥攊s that the memory of the slave trade is not a page turned, but a light cast upon contemporary realities we would rather ignore. It is not about guilt but responsibility: to act, to prevent repetition, and to name the new chains, even if they are no longer made of iron鈥.The Memorial to the Abolition of Slavery鈥s a mirror held up to our age, a threshold toward ethical engagements. It reminds us that forgetting is complicity---and that only an active, living and shared memory can prevent the return of the worst. Freedom, that fragile conquest, must always be defended, reclaimed, and passed on.鈥

 

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