Wash Heights Museum Unveils Installation Honoring COVID Victims

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — A museum in Washington Heights announced a new outdoor installation dedicated to coronavirus pandemic victims.

The Morris-Jumel Mansion, the oldest remaining house in Manhattan, which now operates as a museum, recently unveiled an outdoor public art installation called CoVIDA — Homage to Victims of the Pandemic. The installation will be on display from Nov. 2 to Dec. 31.

The COVID-inspired installation was created by Washington Heights resident Andrea Arroyo.

The name of the installation combines the word COVID with vida, meaning life in Spanish. Morris-Jumel Mansion staff will install CoVida on the gates and fence of Roger Morris Park.

The installation also includes an element of public participation, where people can submit names in person or virtually of loved ones who were lost during the pandemic. You can submit names virtually here.

"Due to quarantines and strict social distancing guidelines, people have not been able to come together to grieve as a community, to be with loved ones as they passed, or bear witness to the scale of this tragedy across the country," Arroyo said in a news release. "In addition to acknowledging our cultural heritage and the land of the Lenape Nation that we stand on today, CoVIDA acknowledges that life continues during the pandemic, and while we reflect on the devastating loss of life, we look to the future with hope, and celebrate the life that is here and now."

Arroyo has work in the Library of Congress, The Smithsonian Institution and has had her art featured in the New Yorker and The New York Times.

The Morris-Jumel Mansion was built in 1775 and today serves as a historic site and museum.

You can find out more about the museum on its website.