Resilient Americana:Victory: SS American Victory in Tampa Florida’s, Channel District is a Hybrid VR Painting™ by Dave Alber.
acrylic on Canson paper and panoramic VR technology
22 x 10.75 in (56 x 27 cm)
2020
The SS American Victory was a Merchant Marine vessel built to transport supplies to the Pacific Theatre at the end of World War II; it served in three wars and circumnavigated the globe twice. In peacetime, the ship worked as a commercial carrier and served in the reserve fleets, a symbol of military resources and personnel transitioning into industry in times of peace. Now docked permanently in Tampa Florida’s Channel District, it operates as a museum commemorating the memory of the brave service people of the Merchant Marines, who it should be noted, suffered the most casualties among all of the American military services in World War II.
This ship, whose victory is symbolized in its transition from war to peace, is a reminder that Victory, not only represents strength in times of war, but in times of relative peace: diligence and continued service; vigilance in surveying the geopolitical chessboard; and moral and spiritual courage over the windy designs of our passions. In peacetime, the extroverted energy exercised in wartime is withdrawn back into our nation, community, and individual conscience in order to express the flowering of our greater humanity, civility, honesty, and civic duty. This is the florescence of our human goodness existent and expressive of that paradoxical sphere where humility and legitimate pride are never at divisive odds—our true human flowering. Truly, this is what the American nation’s past, present, and eternal struggle for victory has always been about.
