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For more than four years, the COVID-19 pandemic and its after-effects have gripped the world and changed so much. During that time, nearly 1.2 million people across the country—including 83,000 in New York City—have lost their lives to the virus.
To honor their memories, there's a new installation at Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery called A Big Slow, Majestic Covid Memorial. It's on view now through Friday, June 3, and consists of tributes made by 22 community groups from across New York City.
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The memorial took over a section of Green-Wood’s historic wrought-iron fence, near the main entrance at Fifth Avenue at 25th Street. The monument stretches horizontally for 200 feet and includes a dedicated space for public participation where New Yorkers can add nameplates to remember their lost loved ones. Pieces include paintings, drawings, floral displays, and words like "not forgotten" interspersed with names of the deceased.
The artwork also pays tribute to those suffering from long COVID. “The mounting toll of death and diminished health has inflicted immeasurable pain but also brought communities together to provide support and comfort to those suffering the reverberating effects of the virus,” event organizers said in a press release.
The theme of this year’s memorial comes from disability justice writer Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, who wrote in The Future is Disabled, "Everyone is holding so much grief right now, and it’s so hard, but it’s kind of created this bigger, slower, majestic space to be real with what’s going on and organize from that space."
To create the memorial, Naming the Lost Memorials collaborated with City Lore, Great Small Works, Mano a Mano, and The Green-Wood Cemetery. The team worked with 22 community groups from across the city whose constituents have suffered significant losses from COVID-19. Some of those groups include: Bronx Documentary Center, Casa Yurumein, Vishnu Mandir Hindu Temple, Guyana Cultural Association, The Bklyn Combine, West Indian American Day Carnival Association, Yaffa Cultural Arts, Bangladesh Institute of Performing Arts, Jews of Jackson Heights, and La Colmena.
This is the second COVID memorial Naming the Lost has presented at Green-Wood. Last year's memorial was called The Many Losses from COVID-19.
"Naming the Lost Memorials aims to create an annual, tangible wall of memory that does not allow the lives and souls of the many thousands of victims of the COVID-19 pandemic to escape our thoughts—thoughts which are needed to remember, grasp our losses, and find ways to create healthier and more compassionate communities," Steve Zeitlin, co-director of City Lore said in a press release.
As the months go on, Naming the Lost and City Lore will continue to help communities create COVID-19 memorials through 2025. As part of The Monuments Project, its nationwide initiative to rethink the meaning and creation of monuments, the Mellon Foundation provided a major grant to support this work. Some artifacts from the memorials will be archived at the New-York Historical Society for future exhibitions and research into the impact of the pandemic.
All are invited to join in a dedication and activation ceremony at Green-Wood's historic chapel on Sunday, May 19. Register here for the in-person event or watch a livestream here.