Tuesday, June 8, 2021, 6–9 PM EDT at Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn
Join Makandal as it takes part in We Remember, an interactive memorial honoring the lives of some 52,000 New Yorkers who left us in the time of COVID-19. Greenwood Cemetery has donated use of its 5th Avenue fence for a memorial launch on June 8. The memorial will remain up for viewing until June 28. The launch begins with a procession followed by a dedication and culminates in music, dance, and opportunities to add nameplates.
La Troupe Makandal will honor those on the other side with a music-and-dance performance! Be ready to participate…
More than 20 community-based organizations have come together to contribute names and to create nameplates for WE REMEMBER: A COMMUNITY COVID MEMORIAL. Collectively, the adorned nameplates create a visual and personal representation of the overwhelming enormity of the loss.
Kay Turner, artist and folklorist, and team member of Naming the Lost Memorials, said, “Even as New Yorkers begin to feel the joys of opening, the pandemic rages on in other parts of the world. It’s not over. Nor is the sense of loss we feel knowing that 600,000 of our loved ones in the United States are gone from us. Mourning and remembrance are still necessary acts. Naming those lost to COVID-19 must continue. Our memorial at Green-Wood provides a place to do just that.”
There is no registration required to attend this event. In case of inclement weather, the ceremony will be held on June 9th. Attendees are welcomed to bring blankets or chairs to sit on inside the Cemetery during the ceremony.
Generous funding was provided, in part by CATCH (Center for Art, Tradition, and Cultural Heritage); City Lore; Circus Amok; Great Small Works; Folk and Traditional Arts program of the National Endowment for the Arts; and NYC Department of Cultural Affairs.
See Makandal’s 2010 performance at Greenwood Cemetery here.
Visit the event’s Facebook page here.
Map and transportation here.
Featured image: Photo by Erik McGregor
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