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The faces of those who have died from coronavirus were illuminated in Adams Morgan for an hour Thursday night.
Visual artist Robin Bell projected the photos onto a building along with messages from loved ones as a part of Covid Memorial, a digital archive honoring the deceased and those who mourn them. “Collectively, we’re going through a loss. We’re going through grief,” says Bell. “There’s something about taking a moment and acknowledging where we’re at and acknowledging the people we have lost.”
The project began with Duncan Meisel, a nonprofit digital consultant from Austin who has collaborated with Bell in the past. Meisel is working with a team of four volunteers to collect memorial messages from social media and through submissions on their site. Many are bound by Twitter’s 280-character limit, short yet poignant vignettes into the lives of those lost.
“People feel like their family members are being disappeared,” says Meisel. “You can’t go visit them in the hospital, you can’t go mourn with your other family members, and so hopefully this helps provide a way to reflect on this more concretely.”
The project’s coordinators are exploring the possibility of another live-streamed projection. But both Bell and Duncan hope people will hold projections of their own, downloading the slides (they can be displayed by anyone a projector and a flat surface).
To share a remembrance, use #COVIDMemorial on social media or submit a slide on the memorial’s website.
https://www.facebook.com/COVIDmemorial/videos/555017965144768/?__xts__[0]=68.ARBMN6ZRIu7ZGHYuao7DshEyXa_pCHqGaTOvZBuatSW30ms1Lw3TrD2G1OMOpEROBz7CwpC6iWE12KSK1RiTi6fuAwC5S90XJhU3bYRqe43f88ReneHQgTcL7FIKDbO6-UAl0dAKiHxRYqxExY1AhBSx-dLJXtIDSy7BKzAehEIITDV8TsZat0ITclGi9AiRgPjiBPQjY-yOCXjy406TFDcKYqlyp_MZas_BsFVU6RSAm3Ufxc7jqbgoENtv2KUZ4yXT8yhJuQX-_0izS9Vkw3nSu7Bh5g3stNhJW_UZHzSHnUkUFpSg10xzaU-wqQgtm1QBQoA&__tn__=H-R
Daniella Byck joined Washingtonian in 2022. She was previously with Outside Magazine and lives in Northeast DC.
