BOSTON (WHDH) - The Gun Violence Memorial Project, now on display in Boston, aims to turn art into action by showcasing remembrance objects families keep for loved ones they lost to gun violence.
The installation, a collaboration between Boston-based MASS Design Group and Songha & Company, in partnership with the gun violence prevention organization Purpose Over Pain, was launched at the 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennale.
It comprises four glass houses, each built of 700 clear bricks, a reference to the average number of gun deaths every week in the United States. Many of the bricks hold remembrance objects such as baby shoes, graduation tassels, and photographs offered by families in honor of loved ones whose lives have been taken due to gun violence.
Joy Marchand, whose daughter was fatally shot almost 15 years ago, said, “it’s a nightmare I live with every day.”
She donated a seashell with her daughter’s name on it to the exhibit.
Mass Design Group Principal Jha D. Amazi said, “The four houses together represent a monthly toll of how this epidemic of gun violence is impacting our communities and this country.”
Amazi says the installation relays a clear message to the families of victims:
“One, that they’re not alone, and two, that this is not their fault,” she said. “Their loved one’s life being taken is not their fault … Gun violence can impact anyone.
The Gun Violence Memorial Project will be on view at the ICA, Boston City Hall, and the MASS Design Group gallery in Boston’s South End until January.
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