Johnston creates a star by first tracing the new star on the wall using a template. Each star measures 2¼ inches tall by 2¼ inches wide and half an inch deep; all the stars are six inches apart from each other, as are all the rows. Johnston uses both a pneumatic air hammer and a chisel to carve out the traced pattern. After he finishes carving the star, he cleans the dust and sprays the star black, which as the star ages, fades to gray, (From The stars on the wall, CIA).

“You will know the truth and the truth will set you free”. This verse from Saint John, (Jn 8, 32), is engraved on the left wall ion the entrance hall of the CIA headquarter at Langley, Virginia, USA. On the same location we can find a memorial wall which honoured the employee of the intelligence agency fallen in action. For each agent lost on the field appears a black engraved star on the marble wall. When an agent « disappears » , Tom Johnston, the actual stone carver get a template out of a safe, which were created by his mentor, and carve the wall. By using collected datas and deduction, Maxime Bondu reproduce the possible tool used to place and draw a star from the others. This deduced tool is then used to draw stars on a wall which appears as counter-monument. In echo, there is a picture of an advertise of a job offer at the CIA published in the New York Times. (April 2nd 1978) on which we can see the ambiguity of an agence created to operate in clandestinity.

Claire Migraine