Photo: Erik Mc Gregor
They called this vigil “Naming the Lost.” Alongside the online action, members of Naming the Lost Memorials created site-based physical memorials in each of the five boroughs of New York City, installing them at Queens’ Corona Plaza, Jacobi Hospital in the Bronx, Ridge Street & Broome Street on the Lower East Side, Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, and Verrazano Nursing Home in Staten Island.
Photo: Erik Mc Gregor
Background Design Credit: Tine Kindermann and Andrea Lomanto
Now, the project has evolved into a community public art project that continues to hold space for collective grief. Each May at Green-Wood Cemetery and October at Mano a Mano’s Día de Muertos celebration, dozens of partner organizations collaborate with NTLM on a covid-19 memorial. When the memorial is complete, we hold a memorial activation ceremony to honor the living and the dead through dance, music, poetry, and ritual. Our goal now is to offer New Yorkers a space to mourn and organize together and to consider how covid-19 continues to impact us individually and collectively.
NTLM is a project sponsored by City Lore, Mano a Mano: Mexican Culture Without Borders, Great Small Works and Green-Wood Cemetery. As part of The Monuments Project, the Mellon Foundation provided a major grant to support this work. The New-York Historical Society will archive selected artwork from these ephemeral memorials for future exhibitions and research into the impact of the pandemic.
Photo: Erik Mc Gregor
Director of Mano a Mano
Photo: Eric Mc Gregor
Lead Community Liaison
Photo: Eva Pedriglieri
Folklorist
Photo: Robin Michals
Theater artist and educator
Photo: Eric Mc Gregor
City Lore staff
Photo: Eric Mc Gregor
City Lore archivist
Photo: Robin Michals
Artist, organizer, educator
Photo: Eric Mc Gregor
City Lore Co-Director
Photo: Robin Michals
Folklorist and Performer
Photo: Robin Michals
You can learn about the incredible partner organizations who have worked on each memorial on our Archive page. We are grateful to each individual who has contributed their work and their grief to this project.
Photo: Robin Michals
