May 12, 1985, 2020

Carnations. Included in exhibition Everything That’s Alive Moves, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia

Carnations were offered to visitors throughout the run of the exhibition Everything That’s Alive Moves, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia.

In 1907, Anna Jarvis began a campaign to establish a national holiday to recognize mothers. The carnation came to symbolize the holiday as it was her mother’s favorite flower. MOVE was a black liberation group (whose headquarters were located three miles from the museum), founded in 1972. Their anarcho-primitivist lifestyle and political activities brought periodic confrontations with authorities. May 12, 1985, which was Mother’s Day that year, local police served an eviction notice and arrest warrants to MOVE. On the following day, a standoff ensued, with authorities ordering a police helicopter to drop a bomb on the MOVE compound. The resultant fire killed eleven MOVE members, including five children. The destruction destroyed approximately sixty-five neighboring houses.

Photo Credit: Constance Mensh