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Maya Lin's 'What Is Missing?'

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Maya Lin's Vietnam Memorial changed how we remember war. We'll talk with her about her last, public memorial — a monument to vanishing species.

Maya Lin discusses her redesign of Queen Anne Square during a press conference in Newport, RI, Monday, June 6, 2011. Lin collaborated with landscape artist Edwina von Gal, not pictured, in the art installation located at the park. (AP)
Maya Lin discusses her redesign of Queen Anne Square during a press conference in Newport, RI, Monday, June 6, 2011. Lin collaborated with landscape artist Edwina von Gal, not pictured, in the art installation located at the park. (AP)

The great Maya Lin carved a permanent, powerful place in the American heart with her Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. She was 21 when she drew that black granite line in history. Went on to a wide-ranging life in design.

A dozen years ago, Maya Lin announced she was out of the memorial business entirely. But, she’s done one more. To all the species vanished or vanishing from the Earth. A memorial filled with the sounds of birds and frogs and primates slipping away.

This hour in an archive edition of On Point: Maya Lin and “What is Missing?”
-Tom Ashbrook

Guest

Maya Lin joins us from New York. An award-winning architect, designer and environmental artist, she's best known for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC.  Her  latest work, which she calls her final memorial, is "What Is Missing?" It focuses on extinct and vanishing species, and incorporates sculpture, video, sound, hand-held electronics, printed material and an interactive website.

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Maya Lin's official website offers a rich visual experience. Covering the full scope of her work, it includes a wealth of beautiful images and provides detailed background information on the art and the artist.

"The Missing Piece" — Susan Morgan reported on Maya Lin's "What Is Missing?" in a multimedia feature for The New York Times Style Magazine that includes a photo gallery.

This program aired on November 2, 2009.

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