For Thee is a memorial artwork made from oxygen tanks converted into large bells. They ring powered by the wind and mourn COVID-19 victims. It voices the chaos, loss, and overwhelming grief caused by the pandemic.
As a thank you for the people involved in the project I made T-shirts. Using hand-cut stencils and red spray-paint, I marked the back with “Remembering Our Fallen 2018.” For the front, people could choose from T-shirts labelled “Volunteer”, “Donor”, “Art Helper”, or “Art Monkey.” By far the most popular
Families and friends of the fallen soldiers would sometimes leave mementos. This image shows a pin of the soldier on his name banner. Many families and comrades-in-arms thanked me for this piece so their loved ones would not be forgotten. More than one veteran came to see the names of
For installation of the work, I used social media and word of mouth to get help from the community. Even with many hands, the installation took a full three days. Volunteers did not need to register. They would just show up whenever they had time and would drive in the
Many dozens of community members, varying in age from 8 to 80+, helped write the nearly seven thousand names of US military fatalities from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. People told me they found it cathartic to write the names of friends and loved ones they had lost.
This artwork installation protested the USA’s involvement in so many violent conflicts. Here in the States, in daily life we rarely talk about the violence we have initiated and sustained in other countries. The wars just go on and on! Because our military is all volunteer (no draft), the vast