Designing the piece I knew that I had to ask myself what, you know, what is a memorial's purpose?

Especially what is a memorial's purpose in the 20th century?

And all I was saying in this piece is the cost of war is these individuals, and we have to remember them first.

And so it's really the people, not the politics, which is what this piece is about.

Because it's only when you accept the pain.

It's only when you accept the death can you then come away from it, can you then overcome it?

And literally as you read a name or touch a name and the pain will come out, and I really did mean for people to cry.

That you can then have to of your own power, turn around and walk back up into the light, into the present, but if you can't accept death, you'll never get over it.

So what the memorial is about is about honesty, which is also what the civil rights piece is about.

You have to accept and admit that this pain has occurred in order for it to be healed, in order for it to be cathartic.