visual art
The Many Hearts of Monica Moore A Lot of People Forgot about the Pandemic. One Artist Didn’t.
WORDS + PHOTO / MICKEY MERCIER
ometimes a piece of folk art goes viral. It captures pelled to cut the first of many small paper hearts from S hearts and imaginations, its reputation spreading by magazine pages and newspaper advertising inserts. The word of mouth and the news. It might become a com- various colors and paper textures carry symbolic meaning munity collaboration, like quilt-making. Such works of art can even spread spiritual healing after a tragedy. One of those rare phenomena is unfolding in real time in Northwest Arkansas.
in her collages, representing different groups affected by the pandemic, such as healthcare staff and public-safety workers who had higher levels of stress, illnesses and suicide.
The Hearts Project: A COVID-19 Memorial is a mural-size collage work by Fayetteville artist Monica Moore. It honors the approximately 13,000 Arkansans who died from the COVID-19 pandemic. The project comprises 2,700 hand-cut paper hearts, each symbolizing a life lost, arranged in multi-colored geometric patterns. Three sixfoot wooden frames contain the hearts. It’s a striking, massive triptych that could dominate a small gallery.
Another theme is the less-recognized essential workers like store clerks, restaurant staff and home-health aides. Many of them were lower income and minority employees, who kept the service industries functioning and died from the disease in disproportionate numbers.
The backstory of the piece is equally expansive — a testament to collaboration, mourning and hope for the future. During COVID, Moore asked herself, “How can we get our culture to remember this tragedy?” She felt com10 / idleclassmag.com
As The Hearts Project took shape, Moore worked with collaborators, such as art assistant Laura Avila and frame carpenter Joel Doelger. Many volunteers and financial backers assisted, including her husband, UA communications professor emeritus Dr. Thomas S. Frentz. Five years in the making, The Hearts Project’s first public