How do we memorialize the pandemic?

“Memory Box Monument” is a participatory memorial designed to engage Americans in honoring the 1 million people in the United States who have lost their lives due to complications from COVID-19. The memorial’s online component asks participants to share the name and story of the person they lost and the words they wish they could have shared with them before they died. Those stories and images can be accessed by scanning the QR codes on the facade of hundreds of 8-foot black metal cube monuments imagined in public and private spaces across the American landscape.

Xavier Cortada is an artist based in Miami.