Enough Said? Counting Mass Shootings

an installation by Susan Calza and Samantha M. Eckert with Felix Gonzàlez-Torres

On view through December 31, 2023

*Enough Said 1* by Susan Calza, 13” x 19” photograph on panel, 2023 • *Coperta per Tutti* by Samantha M. Eckert, 5" x 5" emergency blanket, sewn, 2019.

By Sophia Thomas

Published: Dec. 3, 2023 at 7:12 PM EST

MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) - A Montpelier artist is raising awareness about gun violence. She’s cataloging every mass shooting in the U.S. this year through art.

From the top of a ladder, Susan Calza ties a ribbon to the ceiling, affixed to a bullet casing and a shimmering tag. It’s the 622nd tag she’s hung this year in her Montpelier gallery. The ribbons are Calza’s way of documenting every mass shooting– shootings where four or more people are hurt or killed– in the United States during 2023.

“It’s different when you read it in the newspaper. I wanted something that visually people could kind of feel,” Calza explained.

It’s impossible not to feel the hundreds of tags bumping into your shoulders as you take in Calza’s exhibit, “Enough Said? Counting Mass Shootings.” It’s a combined effort with artists Samantha Eckert and the late Félix González-Torres to represent the impact of gun violence in the U.S.

This second tier of the Counting Mass Shootings series continues to call attention to the escalating number of Mass Shootings in the United States. Enough Said? Counting Mass Shootings includes mixed-media installation work by Susan Calza, Samantha M. Eckert and Felix Gonzàlez-Torres.

The opening reception on Friday, September 1 from 4-8pm is in collaboration with The Front and Hexum Gallery in celebration that artists are still here in the Montpelier Community during this intense time of recuperation and rebuilding. Marjorie Kramer - Paintings is on view at The Front. Hexum Gallery has two exhibitions: By Myself with You by Erickson Diaz-Cortés and Rock, Paper Scissors by Fiona Mc Teigue.

For this exhibition, Calza created a photographic triptych Enough Said? The work refers to the 1,034 children who have been killed by guns between January 1, 2023 and July 28, 2023. Gun violence is the major cause of death for children in the USA.

Conceptual artist Samantha M. Eckert created Coperta per tutti (a blanket for everyone), during a residency in Greve in Chianti, Italy. Of the blanket installation she shares “I often cut up emergency blankets and use the material in my work as a mechanism that indicates "crisis" and caring for those who've endured trauma; and linen and muslin intended to reference a burial shroud.

”Felix Gonzàlez-Torres, Untitled, Death by Gun is a print made in 1990. Listed on the printed sheet are the names of 460 individuals killed by gun in the United States during the week of May 1–7, 1989, cited by name, age, city, and state, with a brief description of the circumstances of their deaths and, in most cases, a photograph of the deceased. These images and words, appropriated from Time magazine, where they first appeared, are reprinted without commentary.

Each Mass Shooting incident is indicated by a 23k gilded and numbered hanging tag. To date there have been over 465 Mass Shootings in the US, The corresponding number on each red tag represents one Mass Shooting. This year, the number of shootings continues to exceed the number of days in 2023. A Mass Shooting is defined as an incident where 4 or more people are injured or killed.

In addition to the hundreds of tags, a daily diary is on view recording the details and when possible, the names of the victims. It is up to the viewer’s discretion as to whether or not to engage with this recorded information.