as a visual artist
i couldn't let this happen
when words go unheard and numbers get
too
large so they're easy to dismiss art has
to take the lead
and so i wanted to use art to make the
number comprehensible
white is important white is the color of
innocence and
all of these people if there's one thing
they had in common
none of them wanted to die from this
virus
one of the things that's important with
this art is that the public is
participating in it
this is a place where people share their
stories
and share their grief because we've all
lost something
people come and they personalize flags
they'll put names and nicknames of those
who have died they'll put birth and date
deaths
they'll put little messages when people
are walking through here and they see
names on the flags
it helps to personalize it every single
flag
marks the grief of the family the
neighbors
the co-workers and then also the medical
community that worked so hard to save
that life
so each flag in itself embodies an
immense amount of grief
and that's what the names remind people
and then they lift their gaze
and they see so many flags
as far as the eye can see and that gives
them a real understanding of the scope
of this american tragedy
every day around noon i changed the
billboard
to reflect that current day's death toll
in the united states
it's a sad ritual that's the hardest
part of my day is when i'd have to
change those numbers
we plant basically each day
the death toll from the day prior i've
ordered 15
000 more flags and then i had to place
yet another order for another four
thousand i have to expand the site i've
narrowed the walkways
to as narrow as they can be and now
we're having to plant on adjacent
green spaces and this is just
mid-november we have two weeks yet to go
what do i want people to take away i
want people to understand
that we have to change we as americans
can't let this happen if this is what it
means to be an american
it's time to rethink that
you