As of July 2022, nearly 31,000 people in Arizona have died of COVID-19. They were people with family, friends, children, and pets. People who mentored others and changed lives. They are gone. Their belongings and memories are left with the people involved in their lives.
During the COVID pandemic, Jen Urso’s sister was dying of cancer. She began going through her belongings before and after she died. There were objects, mementos, projects half-done and work from the past, tucked away in boxes and suitcases. All these things she kept were now Jen’s to decide on what to keep, give to friends, donate, recycle, or put in the trash. They would become someone else’s things to go through again in the future.
“I imagined all of the things my sister owned and had ever created being packed tightly into a suitcase and then bursting out of it when opened,” Urso shared.
Arizona COVID Death 12/3/20, Age 53
As Arizona came to lead the world with the highest COVID-19 infection rate, over a hundred people were reported dead each day in the state. For each one of those people, another devastated family was faced with going through their loved-one’s belongings and making decisions.
Jen decided she needed to make something that represents and honors each of these individuals. The paper suitcases created for this project represent the 20,000 people in Arizona who died from COVID up until October 2021 (the date of the project’s initial installation). The more than 10,000 suitcases shown here at Western Spirit, represent a small portion of those deaths. The pop-up suitcases on display include obituaries from Arizona where COVID was listed as the related cause of death.
Jen Urso has received generous support for this project from numerous individuals and organizations. Visit Western Spirit to experience a representation of Jen’s work on this ongoing project. For more information on Jen Urso and her other efforts please visit: http://jenniferursoart.com/
Urso will be speaking during the panel conversation for The Color of Care
screening, to find out more click here.
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