{"id":12511,"date":"2021-09-17T07:47:33","date_gmt":"2021-09-17T14:47:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=12511"},"modified":"2021-09-17T07:47:33","modified_gmt":"2021-09-17T14:47:33","slug":"more-than-600000-white-flags-on-the-national-mall-honor-lives-lost-to-covid-npr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=12511","title":{"rendered":"“More Than 600,000 White Flags On The National Mall Honor Lives Lost To COVID”, NPR"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jonathan Franklin,\u00a0

THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS<\/a><\/p>\n

For more than two weeks starting this month, over 600,000 white flags will fill the National Mall \u2014 symbolizing the lives lost to COVID-19 in the United States.<\/p>\n

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Each of the flags, displayed across the 20 acres of grass, will hold a written personalized message from loved ones honoring their memory.<\/p>\n

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The art installation, titled In America: Remember<\/em>, was created by Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg, the Washington, D.C., social practice artist who first created an installation of white flags outside the District of Columbia’s RFK Stadium <\/a>in October 2020.<\/p>\n

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CORONAVIRUS UPDATES <\/a><\/h3>\n

In London, Thousands Of Red Hearts Honor COVID Victims In Plain View Of Parliament<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

“I wanted to focus on my message. I didn’t purposefully start out to do a large-scale installation. My outrage led me,” Firstenberg said in an interview with NPR.<\/p>\n

The 62-year-old artist began to visualize the idea for the installations in March 2020during the beginning stages of the COVID-19 pandemic after Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said <\/a>that Americans should be willing to take the risk of the coronavirus to protect the U.S. economy.<\/p>\n

That message left Firstenberg with an array of emotions.<\/p>\n

“That really disturbed me. I just felt as though someone had to do something to make a statement that with all these people dying, we had to value each of these lives as well,” she said.<\/p>\n

She uses art as a way to focus on social issues in the world<\/h3>\n

Having spent years as a hospice volunteer, as well as working on Capitol Hill and in pharmaceutical new-product development, Firstenberg says she originally did not start out as an artist.<\/p>\n

However, after taking a series of art classes, she discovered that art was a way to focus on her message when it comes to addressing social issues.<\/p>\n

“Once I realized there was an art within me, I took every class I could,” Firstenberg said. “I learned every material I could because I wanted to use a whole range of materials to see what I needed to say.”<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/picture>In the summer of 2020, Firstenberg began putting her ideas to the test.<\/div>\n

Creating the exhibit In America: How Could This Happen…<\/em> on 4 acres next to RFK Stadium, Firstenberg, along with a team of volunteers, planted 267,080 white flags \u2014 mirroring the 270,000 headstones at Arlington National Cemetery.<\/p>\n

As the exhibit was coming to a close on Nov. 30, Firstenberg was already thinking ahead to her next project as she knew the death toll from the virus would steadily increase.<\/p>\n

“When the installation closed last fall, I felt very sad knowing that we were heading into a very dark winter and there would be many deaths to come,” Firstenberg said.<\/p>\n

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\"Memorializing<\/picture><\/a><\/p>\n
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CONSIDER THIS FROM NPR <\/a><\/h3>\n

Memorializing The Deaths Of More Than 500,000 Americans Lost To COVID-19<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Moved by the emotional response after her first exhibit, she began reaching out to the National Park Service in hopes of bringing her project to the National Mall.<\/p>\n

“So many of these deaths happened in isolation without acknowledgment,” she said. “When I had an opportunity to bring it to the National Mall, even though it’s an immensely greater task, there was no hesitation. I knew I needed to do it.”<\/p>\n

As the number of deaths increased, so did the number of flags<\/h3>\n

In the time between Firstenberg’s first exhibit and the second, almost 400,000 more people have died from COVID-19 in the United States.<\/p>\n