Skip to main content Smithsonian Institution

Catalog Data

Physical Description:
plastic; tyvek; metal (overall material)
Measurements:
overall: 38 cm x 12.5 cm; 14 31/32 in x 4 29/32 in
Object Name:
flag
commemorative flag
Date made:
2020
Description (Brief):
White flag with metal pole.
As COVID-19 deaths spiked in 2020, Suzanne Firstenberg’s public art installation "In America: How could this happen…" memorialized the number of people in the United States who lost their lives to the Corona virus pandemic as of November of 2020. The work (taking up 4 acres of the Washington, DC Armory grounds) represented the magnitude of the loss and also humanized the individual experience. At the time, more than 250,000 people were represented through individual white flags, that together provided a visualization of the pandemic sweeping across the country.
Location:
Currently not on view
ID Number:
2021.0014.24
Accession number:
2021.0014
Catalog number:
2021.0014.24
See more items in:
Work and Industry: General History
Data Source:
National Museum of American History
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng4bdd3a399-9a49-0597-e053-15f76fa0cbca
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:nmah_2001501