Many of us are carrying burdens of loss, anxiety, and uncertainty as we move towards the end of 2020. We have all been impacted in some way by the events of this year, and we bear fatigue weighed heavier by the inability to gather as a community to collectively grieve. In this interactive virtual exhibit Unburden, the Gallery at W83 invites you to participate in an unburdening of the load we carry.
Unburden features photographs and stories from Kristina Libby's Floral Heart Project, which consists of pop-up floral heart sculptures around the city, curating temporary memorials to lives lost to COVID-19. These floral hearts create spaces for ceremony and invite the community to share in grief, remembrance, and love.
We will feature a livestream feed of the Floral Heart Project installation and event happening on December 20 at Fort Tryon Park, in partnership with the Washington Heights Arts Salon, for a collective unburdening experience.
We invite you to release personal burdens as well by writing down in the designated space any grief, fears, loss, or anxiety you wish to let go of (anonymously if you wish). You can also ask for prayer, and members of our team will pray for your requests.
Through these individual and collective acts of unburdening, may we imagine what it would look like to truly let go of these burdens.
Photographs by Erica Reade
Curated by Eva Ting
Click on and hover over the photos for captions by Kristina Libby.
We invite you to share your burdens and release any weight you may be carrying. If you would like to receive prayer, let us know and we will pray for you.
THIS EXHIBIT IS NOW CLOSED.
The Washington Heights Arts Salon hosted a live installation and event for the Floral Heart Project in Fort Tryon Park on Sunday, December 20. To watch the Facebook Live video from the event via our Facebook page, click the button below.
Following trauma incidents, large portions of any population will experience PTSD in the form of heightened anxiety, depression, physical violence and substance abuse. Psychologists predict that 15% of the population or 50 Million Americans could suffer from PTSD following COVID-19. The severity level can be even deeper when people are forced to delay their grief and abstain from funerals, Shivas and other mourning traditions. To combat the potential deluge of PTSD, we must show support for those suffering and those lost.
The Floral Heart Project is an ongoing effort by artist Kristina Libby, in collaboration with 1-800-Flowers.com, to help provide healing, compassion and sympathy for those impacted by COVID-19. It began with her research on the potential impacts on society from the pandemic and was furthered with the revealing data that for every person we lose, 2-9 people will experience severe PTSD. Worried about the current state of our country, she felt that we could not withstand this deep psychological wound without help. Her contribution has been to create floral visualizations of those we have lost and to hold vigils and ritual ceremonies for those suffering as part of the Floral Heart Project.
The project is meant to be simple for anyone, anywhere to understand. She chose flowers as they are a traditional gift during loss and hearts because they are a simple way to showcase love and support. The hearts have appeared, with the support of 1-800-Flowers.com, in Times Square, Bryant Park, Herald Square and iconic locations around New York City and in coming months, will be seen in the US and globally. You can find more about the Floral Heart Project here: www.floralheartproject.com.
Kristina Libby is an artist and writer who is currently living and working in New York City. Whether through a painting or a piece of public art, she wants to provoke the viewer into personal reflection and catalyze micro-transformations. She believes that art can heal us, art can enliven us, and art can create revolutions. Her work focuses particularly on the idea of social change by using biophilic (natural) integrations in unexpected ways. You can find more about the artist on her website: lightvlight.com or instagram: @Lightvslight.
The Gallery at W83
At the Gallery at W83, we cultivate art and community on the Upper West Side, providing space for personal engagement, community conversations, and spiritual reflection, and collaborate with local artists from diverse backgrounds to explore universal themes of culture, community, and faith.
We bring together different perspectives in this space as an invitation to join in conversations we believe are vital to us all. We affirm the artist's right to express their views independently, and the views expressed by the artists are their own and do not necessarily represent the Gallery at W83 or Redeemer West Side.