DETROIT, Mich. – Gun violence in the United States continued to decline in 2024, yet the toll of it remains. Even as shootings decline, tens of thousands of lives continue to be lost or permanently changed by guns.
Starting Friday, May 2, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD) will raise awareness of the epidemic through art. It’s hosting the Gun Violence Memorial Project (GVMP), a living monument that honors the lives lost.
“The project is not only about honoring the lives of those who have been lost, but it offers people the opportunity to hear stories of people who are still living,” says Jova Lynne, Co-Director and Artistic Director of MOCAD.
The GVMP is a collaboration between Songha & Company, with artist Hank Willis Thomas serving as Creative Director, the Boston-based MASS Design Group, and in partnership with the gun violence prevention organization, Purpose Over Pain.
The memorial includes 4 glass houses, constructed with 700 clear bricks, a number that represents the weekly average of gun-related deaths in the U.S. in 2019. The time when the memorial was first presented at the Chicago Architecture Biennale.
Each glass house holds remembrance objects donated by families in honor of loved ones whose lives were taken from gun violence. Objects range from toys, photos, clothes, shoes, to something as simple as a tape measure.
The project offers a reflection area, a resource library for people who have less knowledge on the issue and a video of family members telling their stories. It’s an effort to get visitors to leave with an experience of art and to have conversations.
“Part of the intention in bringing this project to MOCAD and Detroit is to really highlight art as a tool for social change,” says Lynne. “Contemporary art is all around us and this particular monument is an opportunity for the community to become part of the art.”
The GVMP has traveled to different cities including Chicago, Washington D.C., Boston and now making a stop to Detroit to bring more stories to light.
“What I hope for in presenting this project here at MOCAD is an opportunity for us to be in a community together. To have that moment where we realize this is about all of us and the only way this will end is with all of us.”
MOCAD will be open to the public on June 21 from 12 p.m. – 5 p.m. for a free drop-in event. Family members are invited to leave remembrance objects and share their stories which will be added to the memorial.
“The collections are powerful. I think not only for the family members who are telling their loved one’s story, but also for me as a listener to really have to sit with them and digest what it means to be facing this epidemic in the United States.”
The GVMP will be on display May 2 – August 10. In addition to the opening on Friday, on May 3, the museum will host the artists who were part of the project. They’ll sit down to talk about art as a form of social justice and ways we can work with each other to end gun violence.
“Usually when you learn about gun violence you read statistics, but these sculptures act as a visual representation that really drives home the impact of lives that have been lost.”