COVID-19 Memorial
Framing Loss through Art
The Hearts Project continues to grow from the experiences that first inspired it. At present, three frames (shown below) hold 2,700 hundred hearts: one honors healthcare workers, one honors essential frontline workers, and the third honors those who endured the pain of mourning loved ones in isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Yet the vision is far larger: to complete the memorial, twelve additional frames are planned, each reflecting another vital aspect of the pandemic experience.
The short animation, below, shows how each Arkansas death inspires the art for The Hearts Project COVID-19 Memorial.
The project’s creator and director, Monica Moore, envisions future frames that will give shape to transformative and often unsettling moments: the loneliness of holidays spent apart, the deep ache of human isolation, and perhaps most importantly, the voices of those who are too often silenced or overlooked.
The next frame, already in production, includes COVID’s First Christmas, dedicated to the first holiday season under the pandemic’s shadow. The Christmas Blues, including a nine-panel Christmas tree design in shades of blue hearts, is nearly complete. And an early sketch of a rainbow prism frame symbolizing how the pandemic knew no boundaries—affecting rich and poor, young and old, every gender, race, nationality, and political identity—is underway.
Looking even further ahead, The Hearts Project imagines frames to honor the incarcerated, children and the elderly, and those in rural communities who faced the pandemic without access to timely news or adequate medical care. Ultimately, the memorial will hold 13,068 hearts, each a testament to resilience, loss, and our shared humanity.
Introduction to The Hearts Project COVID-19 MEMORIAL
Monica Moore going through the process of cutting hearts.
Where to Experience
NWACC
November 10 – February 17, 2026
The COVID-19 Memorial Exhibit will be located in the Walmart Auditorium in the Shewmaker Center for Workforce Technologies.
Current Frames
Design Director: Monica Moore Design Assistant: Laura Avila
Patchwork quilt collages made from recycled paper. Approximately 6’ x 5’
The Purple Hearts
This frame features stylized Purple Heart icons and shades of purple paper hearts to recognize both the heroism and diversity of health professionals working in the field, including doctors, nurses, EMTs, dispatchers, home health nurses, clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and so many others.
Many feared for their lives when exposed to patients carrying the lethal virus. The repetition of the “X” symbol connotes the unknown numbers who left the field from exhaustion, of those who carry invisible wounds from that scary time, and also the uncertainty they experienced each time the virus mutated.
Our Frontline Workers
This patchwork quilt collage includes shades of brown and black hearts and repeating patterns as an analog to COVID’s pattern of attacking vulnerable populations in greater numbers including most typically Black, Brown, Indigenous, and People of Color.
We honor these workers, people who died in greater proportions because they did not have the option to work from home. This frame recalls how the pandemic exposed stark socioeconomic disparities in our country and celebrates the role our frontline workers played to keep Arkansas’ essential services and economy going.
A Spiritual Crossing
“A Spiritual Crossing” is dedicated to an individual COVID death with the act of mourning in mind. It features many hearts cut by the aunt of a woman who died of COVID. The hearts repeat imagery of things her niece loved most in the world: family, friends, books, animals, and traveling.
Panels featuring flowers rest in the four corners of the frame, thereby preserving the funerary tradition to adorn the lost soul with floral ornamentation. Again, the “X” represents the unknown numbers who died without services to honor their lives and also those who mourned in isolation.
The Process
Once inspiration hits, there is action and a process to bring a vision to life in honoring those lost. Here is our approach.
Cutting
Every frame begins with a single heart ?. Each one is hand-cut from sections of magazines, carrying the quiet rhythm of scissors and breath. In these early moments, the studio fills with stillness and care. This act is more than craft; it is remembrance.
Each cut honors someone who lived, someone who is loved, someone whose name must not fade To make art that remembers, we begin by listening to paper, to silence, and to one another. In the sound of cutting, there is both loss and love.
Sorting
After cutting comes sorting.
The table fills with color, soft whites, muted blues, faded reds, each shade carrying memory within its fibers.
In this quiet stage, order begins to take shape. What once felt chaotic becomes whole. Each heart ❤️ finds its place — and in doing so, helps us remember those we lost, and the love that endures.
Arranging
Once the hearts are sorted, the process of arranging them begins. Each heart is laid carefully, one beside another 
following the rhythms of a design that reflects the complexity of human experience.
The collage takes shape slowly, layer by layer. What was once an old magazine, becomes a story, a record of how people endured isolation, found connection, and held onto hope. Every placement is intentional, every space between hearts a pause to remember.
Mounting
When the last heart is mounted, the piece is checked using a special placement tool 🛠️ that helps guide the hearts into straight, even rows. Once the mounting is complete and everything is aligned, the panel is placed into its final frame.
Each frame leaves the studio and enters a new space such as a hospital, library, or museum, where someone will pause, look closely, and find their own connection in the pattern. This allows for the remembering to continue wherever the frame travels.
Upcoming Events
See our upcoming exhibit dates, events, artist talks, community workshops and more.
Impact Testimonials
I have been a mentor to independent artist Monica Moore, encouraging her pursuit to create a memorial to the COVID pandemic experience. Her project documents and memorializes the coronavirus pandemic as it fades from view and the historical memory. Monica is creating an arts-based memorial to remember and honor lives lost. She does this so that the greatest pandemic of our generation is never forgotten. It has been an honor for me to see her initial concepts exhibited at the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum which included a hands-on art project for participants. This involved the opportunity for patrons to … read more
Michael Hall
Executive Director, Fort Smith Regional Art Museum
I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of absorbing your The Hearts Project/Covid-19 Memorial—opening reception at the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum. The considerable thought, efforts, desire, and artistry that “fueled” the project to honor those who passed from Covid-19 (and their loved ones) is truly a work of love, and to be commended! I hope that the exhibit will travel the country to build unity and love—a common thread to join our lives together! It is an amazing Memorial, Monica. read more
Eileen Kohnke
During the COVID shutdowns, we had much to grieve. Some of us lost friends and family to COVID, and some of us were sick multiple times. Even introverts became weary of the isolation – no more time out with friends, no more going out to shop or see a movie for fun. But we are resilient, and we worked at having some fun, staying hopeful, and staying in touch. Much of this was possible through screens and technology. We attended virtual classes, Facetimed our friends and family, used social media, texted, watched YouTube, movies, and shows at home, and played … read more
Art Students of Life Styles’ Blair Center
This COVID memorial is beautiful. My brother died of COVID at 35. He was a nurse. We are in Chicago, but I have been searching for COVID memorial art, and a friend passed along this project and exhibition. Thank you for this incredible tribute. I use the white heart because his fellow nurses referenced the white hats, a symbol for nursing heroes, apparently. They read a poem with a candlelight vigil in our backyard for my mother, me, and his widow. Very moving. read more
Betty
I wasn’t prepared or interested in thinking about COVID again. But my friend Monica Moore invited me to the closing of The Heart Project: A Third Dimension. Once there, I wasn’t expecting to be moved to tears, but I was. The frontline workers’ piece tugged at me. Remembering how disposable healthcare staff became triggered memories I wanted to forget. Thinking about the craze of unwillingness to take a vaccine that could prevent death, or severe illness, sent me back to feeling frustrated with societal ignorance (as if that frustration isn’t an everyday experience now, AS IF). Although I wasn’t a … read more
A.B. Merritt
I have been a mentor to independent artist Monica Moore, encouraging her pursuit to create a memorial to the COVID pandemic experience. Her project documents and memorializes the coronavirus pandemic as it fades from view and the historical memory. Monica is creating an arts-based memorial to remember and honor lives lost. She does this so that the greatest pandemic of our generation is never forgotten. It has been an honor for me to see her initial concepts exhibited at the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum which included a hands-on art project for participants. This involved the opportunity for patrons to … read more
Michael Hall
Executive Director, Fort Smith Regional Art Museum
I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of absorbing your The Hearts Project/Covid-19 Memorial—opening reception at the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum. The considerable thought, efforts, desire, and artistry that “fueled” the project to honor those who passed from Covid-19 (and their loved ones) is truly a work of love, and to be commended! I hope that the exhibit will travel the country to build unity and love—a common thread to join our lives together! It is an amazing Memorial, Monica. read more
Eileen Kohnke
During the COVID shutdowns, we had much to grieve. Some of us lost friends and family to COVID, and some of us were sick multiple times. Even introverts became weary of the isolation – no more time out with friends, no more going out to shop or see a movie for fun. But we are resilient, and we worked at having some fun, staying hopeful, and staying in touch. Much of this was possible through screens and technology. We attended virtual classes, Facetimed our friends and family, used social media, texted, watched YouTube, movies, and shows at home, and played … read more
Art Students of Life Styles’ Blair Center
This COVID memorial is beautiful. My brother died of COVID at 35. He was a nurse. We are in Chicago, but I have been searching for COVID memorial art, and a friend passed along this project and exhibition. Thank you for this incredible tribute. I use the white heart because his fellow nurses referenced the white hats, a symbol for nursing heroes, apparently. They read a poem with a candlelight vigil in our backyard for my mother, me, and his widow. Very moving. read more
Betty
I wasn’t prepared or interested in thinking about COVID again. But my friend Monica Moore invited me to the closing of The Heart Project: A Third Dimension. Once there, I wasn’t expecting to be moved to tears, but I was. The frontline workers’ piece tugged at me. Remembering how disposable healthcare staff became triggered memories I wanted to forget. Thinking about the craze of unwillingness to take a vaccine that could prevent death, or severe illness, sent me back to feeling frustrated with societal ignorance (as if that frustration isn’t an everyday experience now, AS IF). Although I wasn’t a … read more
A.B. Merritt
Volunteer
Share your time and talents with The Hearts Project and help us honor and inspire through art, remembrance, and community connection. Fill out our contact form and someone will get back with you soon.
In the Media
‘The Hearts Project’ memorializes the pandemic with hand-cut paper hearts
By Jack Travis at KUAF
Fayetteville Artist to Speak About Memorial for Pandemic Victims at Fort Smith Event
By Todd Gill at Fayetteville Flyer
Act of Meditation Becomes Collaborative Memorial for Lives Taken by COVID-19
By Dustin Staggs of the Arkansas Dem-Gaz
“The Hearts Project” COVID-19 Memorial Continues with a New Panel
By Dustin Staggs of the Arkansas Dem-Gaz
Artist, Nonprofit Honor Pandemic Experience with Collaborative Exhibit
By Jack Travis of KUAF
Book Our Exhibits
Interested in sharing The Hearts Project COVID-19 Memorial and the Life Styles Collection in your space? Fill out our form with the best way to connect and we’ll reach out to you as soon as possible.