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MOURNING FLOWERS (THE  🤟🏽(ILY) Garden)

Mourning Flowers is an art project brings awareness to the ripple effects of trauma and fear that communities sustain after acts of violence.

The 🤟🏽(ILY) Garden is an Act of Kindness at the intersection of public gardens, public art and urban beautification for the Lewiston-Auburn and greater local and state community following the mass shooting on October 25, 2023 in Lewiston, Maine.  Fall 2025: The garden is in the proof of concept stage. I am determining a location from the cities of Lewiston & Auburn and planting dates in October 2025.

A garden is a simple, accessible, and common space. The process of designing and planting alongside the community and inviting collective participation and management, will not only create a place of peace, but will foster reflection, creativity, and healing. For communities navigating grief, trauma, or anxiety after violence, nature-based environments can reduce symptoms of PTSD, depression, and isolation. Hands-on creative participation (such as planting and weeding days) engages the communal and individual body in meaningful work, a key therapeutic method for integrating grief and re-establishing agency. Open-air design ensures accessibility and reduces barriers for those who may feel overwhelmed in traditional memorial or clinical spaces or feel like they don’t belong in them.

Gardens hold the potential for change. They make communities and economies better, beauty even in dark times and establish sustainable ecosystems. The garden will also serve to enhance the native pollinator habitats along the Androscoggin River.

More flowers, less violence.