The New Memorials

2023 - Ongoing

When a mass shooting takes place, the aura of that space changes permanently. Seemingly mundane locations have since become forced memorials, spaces of mourning that communities never asked for, yet must confront. Communities face grief, absence, and fear when returning to these landmarks. This work seeks to visualize that emotional and physical shift while considering how acts of remembrance are embedded within the environment itself. 

As a photographer from Colorado—a state repeatedly scarred by mass shootings—this research is deeply personal. I began the project shortly after moving to Paris, France, when I received news of the Club Q shooting. Shocked and far from home, I turned to Google Maps as a bridge across distance. Screenshots became my only way of witnessing sites I could not physically reach. By examining these locations across multiple timestamps, I trace both subtle and visible transformations within each landscape. I capture images of the landmarks before, during, and after the shootings, then cut, collage, and rescan the fragments to construct new “monuments”. Through the physical process of cutting, crumpling, and tearing paper layered over familiar locations, memory becomes tactile—fragmented and irrevocably altered.

Some sites have undergone complete renovation, such as the King Soopers supermarket in Boulder, Colorado. Following the shooting, the store redesigned the building to create a new visual environment in an effort to reduce constant retraumatization for the community. These renovations were intended to support healing, enhance in-store security, and incorporate a permanent outdoor memorial.

While historical American war memorials are increasingly scrutinized for their ties to exclusion and violence, this series seeks to create new forms of collective remembrance. Monuments grounded in empathy, reflection, and unity. By inviting viewers to confront these reconstructed spaces, the work fosters dialogue about healing in a deeply divided time, asking: What will the new memorials of our era look like?

Archival Inkjet Print Collage

16" x 16” inches

Colorado Mass Shootings

October 2022

Archival Found Footage Film