More than offering a bold visual, the art will connect people who have grieved the deaths of loved ones in isolation, perhaps without an in-person funeral, Firstenberg said. It’s visualizing the vastness of loss. And it’s allowing people to participate — digitally or in person — whether or not they know someone who died of COVID-19. — Associated Press
A new installation will bring the cost of the Covid pandemic to one of Washington, D.C.’s most sacred public spaces this September in a heartbreaking display of 610,000 individual small white flags placed in the National Mall by local artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg.
The flags are part of a national memorial organized by Firstenberg and planned initially for President Biden’s inauguration in January. The Parks Service eventually got around to approving the artist’s request in the spring, and she will now begin work on September 14th planting the flags in 142 different sections with the help of online and in-person volunteers.
Digital mapping support for the project was provided by a tech company called Esri. Their team was connected to Firstenberg by George Washington University professor Sarah Wagner. Wagner, a researcher in the memory of mass casualty events and collective loss, heard about the Colorado-based firm because of the work software engineer Jeremiah Lindemann did creating a similar map for opioid overdoses following the untimely death of his brother. Esri will create an online version of the memorial that can be accessed around the country.
Firstenberg had tried previously to create a similar memorial in D.C. last October but abandoned the project after planting 267,000 flags because of time constraints and due to the pace of her accounting for the deaths, which at that point, had begun their steady incline as part of the virus’s deadly second wave.
Now, with a little help from across the country and an approval of the Parks Service at her back, Firstenberg will again attempt the monumental work that Wagner says will help Americans understand the overwhelming totality of lives lost on each individual family.
“That it’s on the National Mall is a forceful act, not a gesture, that the nation seeks to remember,” she told the AP. “It’s an opportunity for us to reckon with loss on that scale, in a physical way, a tangible way, one flag for each life.”
The exhibition will open on September 17th and run through October 3rd. The Washington Post has more on the Firstenberg’s installation here.
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