Lenfest's 35th Anniversary: "Memory, Monument, and the Natural World"

Event Description

Lenfest's 35th Anniversary
Roger Mudd Center for Ethics & Lenfest Series
Maya Lin speaking on: "Memory, Monument, and the Natural World"

Thursday, September 17, 2026 at 5:15 p.m.
Keller Theatre • Lenfest Hall/Lenfest Center
No tickets are required.

Renowned architect and artist Maya Lin will launch the Mudd Center's year-long series, "Memory, Mind, and Morality", a theme exploring the ethical dimensions of memory. Rather than treating memory as a passive record of the past, the series examines it as an active, interpretive process that shapes how individuals and communities understand responsibility, identity,
and justice.

In her keynote address, Lin will present works from her remarkable body of memorials, reflecting on how her deep concern for the environment has shaped her aesthetic vision. She will examine iconic projects such as the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial in Washington, DC and the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama, alongside her multi-sited Confluence Project along the Columbia River in Washington State. Lin will conclude by discussing her final "memory work," What Is Missing?-a global, diachronic project confronting biodiversity loss and climate change.

Supported in part by the Class of ’64 Performing Arts Fund and the Roger Mudd Center for Ethics.

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