Who Will Be Next?
An ongoing interactive vigil for past and future victims of gun violence
Rochester, New York, 2023 -
Here we are again, mourning more gun violence. It just keeps going, boom, boom, boom, a steady drumbeat of death. It is easy to forget, to turn away, if you can. Some can’t. Some wake up each day, and their bodies are still tight from the cold, hard clutch of remembering that their loved one isn’t coming back. “Who Will Be Next?” is for them, for them to not feel quite so alone, and for us, so that we can grow in our love and understanding to make them feel less alone.
A collaboration with Elena Makansi, Rochester Contemporary Arts Center and Rise Up Rochester, a gun violence survivor support network. For one month, visitors were invited into the Lab Space at ROCO to trace photographs submitted by Rochester gun violence survivors. To trace can be to look deeply, to learn the contours of the face. It’s not just a random number any more, oh, just one more shooting. It’s the curve of the neck, the wrinkles of a smile, the tender, slightly impatient look of “Why do I have to take another photo?” It’s the eyes, looking back at you, the eyes that won’t open any more because the bullets have closed them. We gather to mourn, to say the names, to trace their faces. To learn a little more of what we have lost.
Tucson, Arizona, 2018-
The University of Arizona mall. Gun violence survivors, community organizers, and artists gathered to create an interactive memorial and vigil for victims of the next mass shooting. The vigil featured remembrances by survivors, calls to action by local politicians and high school organizers, as well as spoken word, a virtual reality app, and a dance performance.
Gun violence survivors from around the country sent in photos of their loved ones to be traced by participants during the vigil.
The memorial was made possible with support from Deborah Parker and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, Pima Friends Meeting, Snowflakes art action group, as well as March for Our Lives - Tucson.
Photo Credit Daniel Hud
