In an ABC-TV “Localish” feature “Artist wants you to see the faces of COVID-19 victims” the COVID-19 victims memorial of international artist Joni Zavitsanos is illustrated and explained.
“It doesn’t mean so much when you hear the statistics on the news. So I hope that I am giving these people a face and a name,” Ms. Zavitsanos says in the touching television segment about the mosaic she is creating to honor those who died from the virus. “In Greek culture we say ‘May their memory be eternal.'”
In the more than 3-minute long segment, she talks about how she tries to learn about who these people were and sometimes adds quotes or symbols to their images. “I feel like I know all of these people in some small way,” she said. At the time this piece was done she had commemorated more than 120 victims.
The Greek National Herald newspaper also featured a story on her work “COVID Legacy: Names and Faces, Numbers, Icons and Halos”. In the story by By Dr. Constantina Michalos, it states: “You may not know any of these people (COVID victims) by name, but you know someone who knows someone. Those six degrees of separation narrow daily. In Houston, artist Joni Zavitsanos decided to end the anonymity – to put names and faces and halos to the numbers. Icons on a COVID Memorial wall honoring local victims of the pandemic.”
And the National Herald piece ends: “How sad to think that Joni can be working on this labor of love for a really long time. And how comforting.”
Also, in a lovely story on TV station Fox26 Houston called “Mourning America: Website honors lives lost to COVID-19″ international artist Joni Zavitsanos’ COVID-19 Victims Memorial was mentioned.