Leo Tanguma's In Peace And Harmony With Nature

Imagine a plane thirty-six thousand feet in the air about to land in the city of Denver, Colorado. The plane circles the Denver International Airport and the passengers look down at the interestingly shaped runways as the plane is cleared to land. After the smooth landing, the passengers exit the plane to gather their luggage and go about their business in the city. Taking note of the artistic murals on the walls as they walk, passengers move along in a hurry to get where they are going, as they do in any international airport. As passengers leave the airport in their Ubers or taxis, they look out the window to see the big blue statue of a mustang just outside of the airport. While the Denver International Airport may sound like an ordinary …show more content…
Perhaps some of the most noticeable peculiarities inside are the incredibly large murals that are located throughout the terminals. One mural entitled, “In Peace and Harmony with Nature” depicts a scene about the destruction of life and the environment. To depict such a scene, the mural displays children mourning over the loss of what appears to be three women, along with several different animals. In the background of the mural there is a raging forest fire (“In Peace and Harmony with Nature”). This isn’t the typical type of mural that would be seen within an airport. Artist Leo Tanguma challenged the idea of traditional murals once again with his mural “Children of the World Dream of Peace”. This mural depicts children, dressed in the traditional clothing of their nation, bringing weapons wrapped in flags to a blonde blacksmith in the middle. This is to show that they are giving up war and turning to a time of peace by turning the bad weapons and wartime materials into something good. The mural also depicts a war soldier who has died placed underneath of all of these children (“Children of the World Dream of Peace”) In a panel alongside this mural, it depicts a terrifying war soldier holding a gun in one hand and a sword in the other, the sword is stabbing a dove. Next to the soldier, there is a line of children that appears to be sleeping, while other people looking distraught while lining up for their certain doom. At the bottom of this panel, there is a quote from a fourteen-year-old child who died at Auschwitz (Blaskiewicz). These murals are open to interpretation, but a quote from a child who died in a concentration camp seems a little out inappropriate to be placed in an airport. Now these murals may not be enough to spark a conspiracy, the are truly very interesting art pieces to be put in an airport. Upon analyzing the paintings, some theorists claim that there is an