Using art to honor the lives lost
Tiina Marie Coon can feel when the anniversary is getting near. Her body remembers things — the anxiety, the adrenaline of the summer night eight years ago when a gunman walked into a midnight screening of the new Batman movie in an Aurora movie theater and opened fire.
Her son was in the theater that night but luckily made it out uninjured. Every July, however, it all comes rushing back.
“No matter how good you’re doing, there’s this memory that you’re there again,” Coon said.
Monday marks the eighth anniversary of the tragedy, which left 13 people dead, 70 wounded and countless others traumatized by one of America’s deadliest mass shootings.
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, organizers with the 7/20 Memorial Foundation were forced to improvise this year to create an anniversary event that conformed to the new normal. From 7 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Sunday, members of the public will be able to walk through the reflection garden and watch artists create individual chalk drawings for each of the 13 victims. The chalk pieces will stay there for public viewing until rain washes them away.
Then, at 11:59 p.m. Sunday, organizers will hold the annual midnight vigil. While people will be able to attend in person — with social distancing measures in place — they are encouraged to watch the live, streaming video on the 7/20 Memorial Foundation’s Facebook page and on its website.
“Everything’s a little different right now, as sad as that is,” Coon said. “But I think we made some really good changes, added some new things, and the livestream will be able to involve more people.”
The pandemic has not stopped Jansen Young from flying in from California to commemorate the day.
Young’s boyfriend, Jonathan Blunk, died that night saving her from the bullets raining through the theater. Much like birthdays or holidays, July 20 will forever be a part of Young’s calendar — and she does not plan to miss an anniversary, no matter what’s going on in her life on the West Coast.
“Every year it really takes me back to that moment, and I feel it like it was yesterday,” Young said. “But there’s also a certain level
of healing I have gone through with this whole process that I’m not stuck in the moment anymore; I’m not stuck in feeling the hurt and feeling like a victim. Now I feel like a survivor.”
These anniversaries are also a chance to reconnect with a group of people unwittingly inducted into a club that nobody wishes to enter.
“But, honestly, it’s such a camaraderie,” Young said. “I feel so much love for every single person — they’re family. I experienced something I have not experienced with anyone else in my life. We don’t have to talk about the details to know what people are feeling. I can say everything or nothing and still feel overcome with love for these people.”
For Randy Sagura, one of the artists tasked with creating the chalk pieces, the Aurora theater shooting is also personal. His cousin was there that day, making it out unharmed.
“Inadvertently, we were all affected somehow,” Sagura said.
His piece will honor Alex Sullivan, whose father, Tom, is a state legislator. Sagura plans to incorporate some of Alex’s favorite things — the New York Mets, comic books and movies — in his design.
Despite the difficulty in planning during a pandemic, organizers believe the anniversary will continue to be a meaningful way to honor their community.
“We didn’t want to make this a mourning memorial,” Coon said. “There will always be the bitter part of it, but there can always be the sweet, the silver linings. Even on the darkest day there is still light.”