ANTHONY BORGES by Michael Avedon

MISSY JENKINS SMITH by Michael Avedon

After reading the article in the New York magazine titled School Shootings written by journalists Jared Soule and Amelia Schonbek with a photo portfolio by Michael Avedon one can only wonder.

Soule and Schonbek’s article begins with the phrase “Americans have short memories.” Well this article reminds us not only the tragic deaths of the victims at school shootings but also the stories of its many survivors.

Twenty-seven courageous people give a testimony of their experience as a victim of a school shooting in the United States. They do not only bear their souls by resorting to a painful exercise of memory but reveal their physical scars by posing in front of the fearless lens of photographer Michael Avedon.

Beyond the political debate about gun control in America, the current concern should be the need to avoid the amnesia following the initial news frenzy and the week-long aftershock when a new school shooting unfolds. There is a need to humanize the terror of such tragic events and give a face and a voice to the suffering of real victims. Our indifference is not only the proof of the pathological behavior we have assumed regarding violence as a society but also reveals our fear that one day a tragedy of such dimensions might hit too close to home.

Soule and Schonbek unveil an interesting fact: all the testimonies of the survivors of school shootings mentioned that the experience seemed surreal, until they realized that what they were living was really happening.

NOLAN BRADY by Michael Avedon

We can only hope for a more promising future for generations to come in this land of opportunity not shattered dreams.

The aforementioned New York Magazine article on School Shootings.