Beyond Memorial - Incite at Columbia University

Incubated Project

Beyond Memorial

Common in the aftermath of shootings, New Yorkers often build candle memorials that offer a space for mourning and reflection.

However, once these memorials are taken down, the sites they occupied often remain overshadowed by grief and anxiety, perpetuating feelings of unsafety and stigma. These spaces also historically have generational or historical trauma due to decades of disinvestment and systemic injustice, leaving these spaces feeling unsafe and stigmatized.

Public artist and spatial justice designer Immanuel Oni has worked with Brownsville youth to reclaim these sites through public art activations. His initiative, Beyond Memorial, facilitates dialogue now with multiple community groups across the city to reclaim various sites of loss.

Two young people install something with a drill onto a street pole.
Participants in a previous Beyond Memorial installation.

His work has expanded beyond gun violence response, now including sites associated with honoring an African Burial Ground historically formerly erased and reviving legacy at a Bed-Stuy environmental community center. With Incite’s support, Oni will focus his efforts on building capacity within and beyond Brownsville to sustain and evolve this work through his non-profit, Liminal.

Beyond Memorial Brownsville - Full Sites Tour

About the Team

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    Immanuel Oni

    Immanuel Oni is a first-generation Nigerian-American artist and space doula working between New York City and his hometown of Houston. Oni’s work focuses on themes of loss, liberation, and its deep connection with place. Oni co-founded Liminal, a nonprofit at the intersection of art, unity, and space, and has held positions as the Director of Community Design in NYC’s Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice and as an adjunct professor at Parsons.

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