NAMING THE LOST Memorials: the Many Losses from Covid-19
Naming The Lost Memorials (NTLM) and City Lore, with a grant from the Mellon Foundation, is at work on a public art COVID memorial which will be on view at Green-wood Cemetery (5th Ave Main Gate) in Brooklyn from May 3-May 29, 2023. The theme of the memorial, created with help from twenty New York City community partners, is “The Many Losses from Covid-19.”
The public is invited to a hybrid (in-person/online) memorial activation and dedication ceremony on Thursday, May 11 from 6-8:30 pm at Green-wood Cemetery (500 25th Street, Brookyn). The ceremony will be live-streamed over City Lore’s Facebook on May 11 from 7PM-8:30PM. Livestream link: https://fb.me/e/150DN2dTb.
Activation ceremony access info: The ceremony on May 11 will take place outside and will be live-streamed starting at 7 PM. For those attending in person, since we will still be in close proximity to each other, we request that all attendees bring and wear a high-quality, well-fitting mask like a KN95. We will have free masks available for those who need one. A golf cart will be available to help attendees with limited mobility from the memorial on 5th Avenue to the Chapel. ASL interpretation will be available. Folding chairs will be available for use during the ceremony. Please contact us with any other access questions at Namingthelostmemorials@gmail.com.
“The Many Losses from Covid-19” is on view at the main entrance of Green-wood from May 3-29, 2023. To see it, visit the 5th Avenue fence at 500 25th Street, Brooklyn 11232. For more information, please read our press advisory.
NAMING THE LOST Memorials (NTLM) is a small team of artists, folklorists, and activists working in collaboration with City Lore, Great Small Works, Mano a Mano: Mexican Culture Without Borders, and Green-Wood Cemetery. The New-York Historical Society will acquire selected memorials from the five years of the project. To learn more about the project, see our press release below.
To make this year’s memorial, we collaborated with 20 community groups whose constituents have been particularly impacted by Covid-19. This year’s participants include:
- Arab American Association of New York
- Bangladesh Institute of Performing Arts
- Casa Yurumein
- The City’s “Missing Them”
- Guyana Cultural Association
- International Dancer Zaman
- Jews of Color arts workshop (“The Workshop”)
- La Colmena
- Long Covid Justice
- Mixteca
- Museo de Los Sures
- New Moon Sisters
- Parent Child Relationship Association
- Project Reach Youth: PRY Safe
- Purelements Evolution in Dance
- Staten Island Museum
- Unincorporated Jews of Queens
- Women’s Empowerment Coalition of New York
- The W.O.W. Project
- Yaffa Cultural Arts
The next NTL memorial will take place in October 2023 as part of Mano a Mano’s Dia de Muertos celebration.
To learn more about the project and get involved in future memorials, please feel free to reach out to us at Namingthelostmemorials@gmail.com.
Naming the Lost Memorials invites you to join a nationwide network of memorial-makers to name and honor our neighbors, family members, and friends lost to Covid-19 in the United States.
Please find below resources for memorial makers:
Thank you for coming together in this moment. Please feel free to reach out to us if we can help, and send us photos of your work anytime.
2023-2025 NTLM Planning Team: Juan Aguirre, director of Mano a Mano; Sandra A. M. Bell, Lead Community Liaison; Elena Martínez, folklorist; Megan Paradis Hanley, theater artist and educator; Jenny Romaine, artist, organizer, educator; Kay Turner, folklorist and performer; Steve Zeitlin and Molly Garfinkel, City Lore Co-Directors .
2020-2021 NTLM Planning Team: Alexa Aviles; Elena Martínez, folklorist; Lyra Monteiro, public artist, scholar, organizer; Megan Paradis Hanley, theater artist and educator; Jenny Romaine, theater artist, organizer, educator; and Kay Turner, performer and folklorist.
