City Lore, Naming the Lost Memorials, Mano a Mano, Great Small Works, and Green-Wood Cemetery present a new public art installation

“A Big, Slow, Majestic Covid Memorial”

“Everyone is holding so much grief right now, and it’s so hard, but it’s kind of created this bigger, slower, majestic space to be real with what’s going on and organize from that space.”
– Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, The Future is Disabled 

In memory of those impacted by the pandemic, NAMING THE LOST Memorials (NTLM), City Lore, Great Small Works, Mano a Mano, and The Green-Wood Cemetery are collaborating on a new memorial—A Big, Slow, Majestic Covid Memorial. Holding a prominent place along Green-Wood’s historic wrought-iron fence, near the Main Entrance at Fifth Avenue at 25th Street. During this time, the public is encouraged to create and add their own nameplates to the memorial. There will be a dedicated space on the memorial for public participation.

Contributors to the memorial, including community partners, artists, and activists, will come together at Green-Wood on Sunday, May 19th for a dedication and activation ceremony at the Historic Chapel. The ceremony will bring together the NTLM team and community partners for an evening that will include a procession, second line, traditional singers, and a participatory ritual of remembrance. All are welcome to participate to commemorate those who died of COVID-19 and remember them together.

Activation Ceremony
Sunday, May 19th

4pm – 6pm

Green Wood Cemetery, Historic Chapel

Free RSVP

The activation ceremony will be live streamed on City Lore’s YouTube channel

The theme of this year’s memorial comes, with permission, from disability justice writer Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, who wrote in The Future is Disabled, “Everyone is holding so much grief right now, and it’s so hard, but it’s kind of created this bigger, slower, majestic space to be real with what’s going on and organize from that space.”

This year’s community partners are: Bronx Documentary Center, Casa Yurumein, University Heights High School, Vishnu Mandir Hindu Temple, and BAAD/Health & Hip Hop, Inc. (all of the Bronx); Come Forever Mutual Aid & Health Resources Center, Guyana Cultural Association, Parent Child Relationship Association, Project Reach Youth, Purelements Evolution in Dance, The Bklyn Combine, West Indian American Day Carnival Association, and Women’s Empowerment Coalition of New York (all of Brooklyn); Yaffa Cultural Arts (Manhattan); Bangladesh Institute of Performing Arts, Jews of Jackson Heights, and Epicenter NYC (all of Queens); La Colmena (Staten Island); and Archive Based Creative Arts, Health Care Workshop, Long Covid Justice, and New Moon Sisters (all citywide organizations).

To learn more about the memorial, visit https://www.green-wood.com/naming-the-lost-a-big-slow-majestic-covid-memorial/.

Registration—which is optional—to attend the ceremony for free is at https://www.green-wood.com/event/naming-the-lost-memorials-activation-ceremony-2/. For access needs and COVID-19 harm reduction information, visit namingthelost.com/memorials.

Supported by a major grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation