What Grief Looks Like: Documenting The Mementos Left After School Shootings
Since 2013, Andres Gonzalez has traveled to Newtown, Parkland, Columbine and other sites of mass shootings to photograph the ephemera — letters, teddy bears, origami cranes — left in memorial.
Photographer Andres Gonzalez's passion project might break your heart. He has spent the past five years documenting mass shootings at American schools.
But not in the way you might expect: There are no landscapes of school yards, crying teenagers, terrified parents or yellow police tape.
Gonzalez has traveled to communities where school shootings have taken place and sifted through archives of the tangible pieces of grief left behind: handwritten letters, crosses, Stars of David, candles with icons, angels, photographs, painted portraits, teddy bears, T-shirts, deflated balloons, origami cranes â a symbol of hope and healing with its roots in Japanese culture.
