There used to be a broken fountain outside the Herrity Building in Fairfax County, but now it has been transformed into an art installation
The new art installation, located at the site near the county’s government complex and police headquarters, invites visitors to reflect on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
County leaders officially unveiled the project, called “Circles of Memory,” Wednesday afternoon. The effort has been in the works for years.
“It’s memories of COVID, and any other kind of memories of people that are not with us anymore, and those are universal emotions,” Diane Braunstein, who attended Wednesday’s event, said. “And at a time when we’re often divided, I think bringing us together around something so beautiful and meaningful was important to me.”
The county’s Board of Supervisors started planning for the artwork in 2022. It cost about $265,000, a spokesman told WTOP.
The project started as an idea to honor those who died during the peak of the pandemic. But it has since evolved into a space for reflection that aims to emphasize the importance of mental health for community members and first responders who regularly respond to emergencies.
“COVID happened,” Jeff McKay, chairman of the county’s Board of Supervisors, said. “It had a profound effect on a lot of people, and a lot of people carry that weight for an extended period of time, and we must acknowledge that and understand that. The second piece of this is creating places of joy for people for meditation and reflection. We know mental health challenges spiked during the COVID pandemic.”
Artists Sal Pirrone and Miriam Gusevich were selected to work on the project. The design features a central path extending from the nearby Herrity Building, surrounded by a series of concentric circles.
It “divides the space, and then there’s a series of concentric circles, and these concentric circles create a promenade, and then around this promenade are a series of alcoves, which create more intimate spaces for people to sit around and share,” Gusevich said.
Related Stories:
Each of the seating alcoves is surrounded by a blue, waterjet-cut, aluminum rolled panel, “to sort of mimic the sky,” Pirrone said. Cutouts in each of the panels were inspired by dogwood trees, “so that shadows and speckling of light that is cast will ground you in the community where you’re experiencing the art,” he said.
Whether it’s workers spending time outside during a lunch break or community members passing by, Pirrone said he hopes they feel “the sense of reverence and calm, an opportunity to be sort of shaded from the elements, to be in a more intimate environment with loved ones.”
Source
