1970 Draft Remembrance
1970 DRAFT REMEMBRANCE
an art installation by Boyd W. Sturdevant, Jr.
Why this?
You can find it in a second on your phone. Have you?
366 dates with draft order numbers from 001 to 366. Was it a leap year? No. A scientific draw? No. Did it matter? Does it matter?
Today the 1970 Draft is 50 plus years of individual and collective memory that vanishes, reforms and revives each day. Personal memories are vanishing at a faster and faster rate. Memories are sinking deeper and deeper into our cultural collective consciousness.
Why Remember?
I have been asked if I made this because I was drafted. No – I had already enlisted several years before 1970. Was I there? No – I was stationed in California to help keep a WWII era Destroyer from sinking and prepare her for a last firing line run tour off the shores of Vietnam. Later, I was discharged in Hawaii after helping the building of a military baseball field – my last duty.
My goal is not to make a statement or “educate” – but to help ask questions. How do we remember – or not remember? How do we learn – or not learn? How do we change – or not change? I made this to help me remember, learn and change.
Nations pick and choose. As in the world’s past, today a US Draft is ready – are you ready? Have we learned? Changed? I made this because I told myself in 1970 to remember.
1970 Draft Remembrance artwork © 2019-2020 by Boyd W. Sturdevant, JR
Photos © 2020 by Ella Sturdevant
Video produced by Wes Sturdevant