The Ghosts of COVID’s Christmas Past
“The Hearts Project COVID-19 Memorial” debuts “The Ghosts of COVID’s Christmas Past” at Northwest Arkansas Community College, Bentonville Campus. This display runs through May 6, 2027, and offers a unique, multi-faceted understanding of collective pandemic experiences. Importantly, the recycled paper hearts function to honor lives lost to the pandemic in Arkansas.
This second set of three frames features collage art that evokes quilt-like patterns and touches on different experiences of the three Christmases we lived through during the public health emergency.
By September 22, 2022, Fayetteville artist Monica Anne Moore had amassed four thousand hearts. She issued a call for help and received several offers from those who also felt a strong need to remember. Though the original goal was to cut one heart for each of the 13,068 reported deaths in Arkansas, ideas for quilt-styled collages began to emerge as the way to display them. Moore felt these representations “were needed to help recall the equally important experiences of the living.”
Since debuting our first three frames at the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum in 2024, we have added another 2,700 hearts to the memorial collection, bringing the total to 5,400 2” x 2” paper hearts. This represents 41% of the total hearts needed to complete the memorial. In its entirety, the memorial will include fifteen 6’ x 5’ frames.
Featured image: COVID’s First Christmas: Upside Down and Sideways
QUICK FACTS
Exhibition: The Hearts Project COVID-19 Memorial
Location: NorthWest Arkansas Community College
Shewmaker Center for Workforce Technologies
Walmart Auditorium, Bentonville, AR
Exhibit Run: DEC. 15, 2026 – MAY 6, 2027
Cost: Free
NOTE: Community members should email special.events@nwacc.edu to ensure the Walmart Auditorium is not hosting an event during the planned visit.
Holiday closures: More information about campus closures can be found by visiting https://www.nwacc.edu/calendar/holidays.html.
Contact: Monica Moore | covidheartsproject@gmail.com | 479-651-3705
https://heartsprojectfoundation.org/
