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When the Gun Violence Memorial Project was launched in 2019, there were an average of 700 gun-related deaths every week in the United States. In 2024, the weekly average has been 840. The need for a space of collective mourning, remembrance and awareness is greater than ever.
Created by MASS Design Group and Songha & Company, a producer of public artworks created by conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas, along with gun violence prevention organizations Purpose Over Pain and Everytown for Gun Safety, the installation features a series of glass houses, each built with 700 clear bricks in a reference to that initial weekly casualty figure. Within the boxes are shoes, toys and other memorabilia from real-life victims of gun violence.
“Our goal was to communicate the enormity of the epidemic,” says Jha D. Amazi, principle at MASS Design Group, “while also honoring the individuals whose lives have been taken.”
This month, the installation will be displayed in the Northeast for the first time. It will take up residence Aug. 29 at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston City Hall and MASS Design Group’s office on Chandler Street, and will remain on view through January 2025.
During its time in Boston, project organizers will work with the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute to organize local collection events where Bostonians impacted by gun violence can contribute mementos to be included in the installation. Those items, and the family’s stories surrounding them, will be on display inside the glass houses during the Boston run of the exhibition.
“For every murder, there are at least 10 survivors left to mourn,” said Chaplain Clementina Chéry, president and CEO of the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute. “As a survivor-led organization, we are proud to honor those who’ve been killed by gun violence and to give voice to the countless survivors impacted by murder, trauma, grief and loss.”
Despite its strict gun laws, Massachusetts is not immune to this nationwide epidemic. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the rate of gun deaths in Massachusetts increased by 16% from 2010 to 2019, in line with the national increase of 17%. Black youth in Massachusetts are seven times more likely to die of gun violence than their white peers.
The temporary traveling installation is part of an effort to create a permanent national memorial to gun violence victims. Spreading awareness is the first step on that road. Prior to its Boston run, the project was displayed in Chicago and Washington, D.C.
The striking installation illustrates the fragility of life under the threat of and in the wake of gun violence. A community, a neighborhood and a life can so easily be shattered by an unexpected act of violence. Remembering and honoring the victims is one way to make sense of the pieces left behind.
“You hear those numbers all the time, but you never tie names to them,” says Pamela Bosley, co-founder of Purpose Over Pain and mother of Terrell Bosley, a victim of gun violence. “I wanted you to see who my son was.”
