ORLANDO, Fla. -- On Friday, volunteers took down the Orlando Traveling Memorial, which had been on display in the lobby of the Orange County Government building since the two-year anniversary of the Pulse shooting.
- Volunteers take down traveling Pulse memorial
- Memorial will head to Chicago next
- No word yet on where the exhibit will go after Chicago
The memorial is designed to travel the country and is now headed to Chicago.
After the Pulse shooting, creating a memorial dedicated to the lives lost and the lives touched by the tragedy became Colleen Ardaman’s mission.
“To remember the 49 and those left behind,” Ardaman said.
With another art exhibit scheduled for the building in July, Ardaman says the memorial’s time there was up. So volunteers dismantled the display piece by piece -- that included each picture of each of the 49 victims.
“Taking down the last is touching,” Ardaman said. “It was a journey.”
Back in June 2017, just before the first anniversary of the Pulse tragedy, Ardaman invited family of Pulse victims to paint pictures of their loved ones, which became part of the memorial.
“This project brought healing so that Mayra got to spend five hours with her daughter at the very end,” said Ardaman, referring to Mayra Alvear, the mother of Pulse victim Amanda Alvear.
“And she laughed, told stories and she really appreciated five hours, because she never got to say goodbye to her daughter,” Ardaman added.
First responders marked their part in the tragedy by placing their handprints on the memorial last year. Those handprints also became part of the display.
“I hope it brings healing that they need,” Ardaman said.
But the Orlando Traveling Memorial must now do what it was intended to do all along: travel.
“This memorial was totally about just letting other people be a part of that story, that their hearts were touched, and they can come and visit it in their own city to go see it and be a part of that journey for their own healing that they need,” Ardaman said.
Ardaman says the victim pictures will be too heavy and expensive to travel the country. She hopes they will find a forever home somewhere in Orlando.
But the lighter half of the memorial is now off to Chicago.
Ardaman says she’s sad to see it leave Orlando, but she thinks it will help show other cities how Orlando responded to a heartbreaking tragedy.
“So when it goes to Chicago, they’re going to have their hearts touched by this about how to respond with beauty, with patience, kindness, love, humility and grace – to those in need,” said Ardaman.
Ardaman says at this point she’s not sure how long the Orlando Traveling Memorial will be on display in Chicago, or where it will go after that.