"IN AMERICA How Could This Happen...," flag

"IN AMERICA How Could This Happen...," flag

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Description (Brief)
White flag with metal pole and writing in marker. pink tag attached to metal pole (P5-139)
Obverse Text: Geary Evans <3 (heart) / con mucho cariño y que descanses en paz.
As COVID-19 deaths spiked in 2020, Suzanne Firstenberg’s public art installation "In America: How could this happen…" memorialized the number of people in the United States who lost their lives to the Corona virus pandemic as of November of 2020. The work (taking up 4 acres of the Washington, DC Armory grounds) represented the magnitude of the loss and also humanized the individual experience. At the time, more than 250,000 people were represented through individual white flags, that together provided a visualization of the pandemic sweeping across the country.
Location
Currently not on view
Object Name
commemorative flag
flag
date made
2020
Physical Description
plastic; tyvek; metal (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 38 cm x 12.5 cm; 14 31/32 in x 4 29/32 in
ID Number
2021.0014.16
accession number
2021.0014
catalog number
2021.0014.16
See more items in
Work and Industry: General History
Data Source
National Museum of American History
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