Description of the video:
IU Kokomo: Enough
Music begins as we see shell casings on a wooden floor. The IU Kokomo tab appears in the upper left-hand corner. We see a bit of police tape outlining the shells and metal legs sitting within the shell casings.
The voice of Mike Applegate, IU Kokomo Adjunct Instructor, New Media, Art, and Technology is heard as a voiceover: “Well, it’s a piece I wanted to try to convey a message of how complacent students have gotten and society, in general, have gotten towards school shootings.”
We see school names written in black Sharpie on a surface. The ones we can read include Hamilton High School, North High School, and Edison High School. As the camera pans over the names, we begin to piece together that the surface is a school desk surrounded by the shell casings. The police tape outlines the entire piece. The Sharpie is scrawled on the entirety of the desk including the seat and legs with names of schools.
Mike Applegate continues speaking to the camera from the IU Kokomo Art Gallery, his art installation seen behind him: “And, um, I tried to convey that through, you know, making it obvious without making it an anti-gun thing. Because I’ve got a lot of friends that are part of the NRA and their big thing is, ‘Is this gonna be anti-gun?’ and I was like, ‘I don’t want it to be anti-gun, I want it to bring out the awareness of school shootings.’”
As the camera continues to pan over the names of high schools, we can see an open black Sharpie pointing to Noblesville West Middle School.
Mike Applegate continues: “I had a friend of mine, she’s an English teacher at Noblesville High School, and when we heard about the school shooting, I contacted her via Facebook and I asked her, ‘Hey, is everything alright? I know you’re in Noblesville.’ And I found out her daughter was in the classroom of the shooting. And so, um, yeah. And from that point, I get a little choked up on it ‘cause it’s just, you know, one of those things that just gets to you. She said, ‘Do you know how hard it is to be a teacher and you’re sitting there in a classroom when you’re in charge and they’re in lockdown?’ So Noblesville High School’s in lockdown so they had to… She had 29 students in her classroom that she’s in charge of to, you know, make sure they’re safe. And, she’s getting a phone call from her daughter screaming about someone shooting up the class.”
The camera pans over the piles of shell casings. We see the entire top of the desk and we can see that the word, ‘ENOUGH’ has been scratched into the surface of the desk.
School names are also written on the metal legs of the desk. We see the name Pearl High School written in black Sharpie on one leg. We see the piles of shell casings next to the yellow crime scene tape that reads, “Police Line Do Not Cross.” We see another leg that reads, “Dillard High School.”
Mike Applegate continues speaking: “Art is…sometimes, it’s just pretty. You know? And sometimes, it’s going to make a social statement. The point is, these are little kids that are getting shot in schools. And we need to do more for school safety. We need to get, you know, the awareness out there. We need to do more.”
The camera pans over and zooms in on the word ENOUGH scratched into the desk.
The music begins to fade out at the screen goes black.
The camera shows Mike Applegate sitting behind his art installation. The screen reads as follows:
“Enough” is on display through September 7 as part of the Faculty Art Show at the IU Kokomo Art Gallery. For more information, visit iuk.edu/gallery.
Scarlett Lewis, mother of Jesse Lewis, victim of the Sandy Hook shooting, will be speaking in Havens Auditorium, October 9, 2018.
“Enough” will be on display in the lobby. For more information, visit iuk.edu/ChooseLove.
Indiana University Kokomo
Fulfilling the Promise
Iuk.edu