Families clash over memorial to victims of Florida shooting

PLANS for a memorial and museum honouring those killed in the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting have sparked a row, with families of the victims clashing over its appropriateness.

The winner of a design competition for the site was announced last week, with those running the project hoping it can become a “sanctuary of healing” for the community in Orlando, Florida.

The project has been accused of profiteering from tragedy, with critics angered by expectations that the museum, due to open in 2022, will have an admission charge and gift shop.

Forty-nine people were killed when a gunman opened fire in the club. It was America’s deadliest mass shooting before the Las Vegas tragedy in 2017.

The winning design will have 49 coloured lines weaving along the ground towards a garden planted with 49 trees – one for each of the people who died.

The memorial, which will be free and open all year, will incorporate the Pulse building itself. There will also be an educational space.

The winning design, which was picked from 68 submissions from 19 countries, was created by a team led by architects Coldefy & Associés.

The project, however, has received a mixed reception among the families of victims. The panel that made the selection included relatives of those affected, some of whom were quoted praising the design.

The mother of one person killed in the tragedy said she “personally fell in love” with the design, adding: “It gives me peaceful memories and reflections of remembering our 49 Angels.”

However, the Community Coalition Against a Pulse Museum, a group that says it represents 34 victims in the Pulse attack, has been vehemently critical of the project.

Zachary Blair, an organiser with the coalition, told The Art Newspaper the design “creates a spectacle of the murder of LGBTQ people and shamelessly uses it to promote urban development under the name of education and memorialisation”.

Jessenia Marquez, who lost her cousin in the shooting, said: “The memorial is creating a wall between us survivors. It’s not a healing process when … a tourist attraction is what’s coming through.”