The Architecture of Memory

Saturday, April 25, noon
The Brick
518 N. Western Avenue
Free

The Equal Justice Initiative’s National Memorial for Peace and Justice is the nation’s first comprehensive memorial dedicated to the memory of the more than 4,400 Black people killed in racial terror lynchings between 1877 and 1950. More than a million people have visited the Montgomery, AL memorial since it opened in 2018, making a profound mark on the local economy. What if all of our monuments could capture that capital and use it for good?

Join author and architectural designer Michael P. Murphy, lead designer on the memorial, and Hamza Walker, Director of The Brick and curator of MONUMENTS, for a conversation about how memorial design can shape historical memory and transform how we think about culture— but also how they might impact the future, and benefit the communities that create and sustain it.

Michael P. Murphy is an architect, educator, and writer, and is the founder and president of AMMA, a design and development collaborative focused on the ways in which space shapes our minds, bodies, and communities. In 2007, he founded the architectural non-profit firm, MASS Design Group, and was CEO until 2022, leading the design of their projects including the Butaro Hospital and The National Memorial for Peace and Justice to name a few. He is currently the Thomas Ventulett Distinguished Chair of Architectural Design at The Georgia Institute of Technology. Originally from Poughkeepsie, New York, he lives in Los Angeles with his wife and children. 

This program is presented in conjunction with MONUMENTS, an exhibition co-organized and co-presented by The Brick and The Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles (MOCA).