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"IN AMERICA How Could This Happen...," A Field of Flags document

American History Museum

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Object Details

Description (Brief)

Staff information sheet for "In AMERICA How Could This Happen..."
As COVID-19 deaths spiked in 2020, Suzanne Firstenberg’s public art installation "In America: How could this happen…" memorialized the number of people in the United States who lost their lives to the Corona virus pandemic as of November of 2020. The work (taking up 4 acres of the Washington, DC Armory grounds) represented the magnitude of the loss and also humanized the individual experience. At the time, more than 250,000 people were represented through individual white flags, that together provided a visualization of the pandemic sweeping across the country.

Location

Currently not on view

date made

2020

ID Number

2021.0014.28

accession number

2021.0014

catalog number

2021.0014.28

Object Name

document
paper
staff information sheet

Physical Description

paper (overall material)

Measurements

overall: 28 cm x 21.5 cm; 11 1/32 in x 8 15/32 in
overall: 28 cm x 21.5 cm; 11 1/32 in x 8 15/32 in

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Work and Industry: General History

Data Source

National Museum of American History

associated subject

Infectious diseases
COVID-19 (Disease)
Public Health
2019-nCoV disease
Disease prevention
2019 novel coronavirus disease

related event

COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020-2023

Metadata Usage

CC0

Link to Original Record

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng4bdd3a399-9a4d-0597-e053-15f76fa0cbca

Record ID

nmah_2001505
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