FORT MYERS, Fla. – Nearly 100 students, professors and volunteers have come together to help assemble the largest art project in the history of Florida Gulf Coast University’s campus.
10,000 memorial markers resembling flowers have been “planted” as a visual display of the impact of COVID-19. Each marker represents 55 lives lost to the virus over the course of the past year in the United States.
“I don’t think we spend enough time thinking about all that loss,” Dr. Maria Roca, a professor at FGCU who helped spearhead the project, said. “[This display] will hopefully bring home the magnitude of what we’ve lost due to COVID-19.”
Roca came up with the idea while having dinner with Patricia Fay, a friend and fellow professor at the University.
“I just felt like we needed to do something,” Fay said. “We can’t just keep reacting. We need to reflect.”
Each of the markers seen in the display was handmade and the project took months to finish.
The installation will be available with limited public access for visitors who follow FGCU’s COVID guidelines, which include wearing a mask on campus.
For those interested in seeing it, you can find more information here.
