Five years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chicago is honoring its victims, survivors, and frontline medical workers with a new memorial.
Titled COVID-19 Memorial Monument of Honor, Remembrance & Resilience, the 25-foot steel structure will be installed in the Illinois Medical District at 2023 W. Ogden Ave., according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
The COVID-19 Monument Commission hosted a contest in 2023 to select the monument’s design, gathering proposals from around the world. The commission selected a submission by art professor Casey Schachner as its winning design.
Schachner’s design features five illuminated structures resembling both dandelions and the CDC’s rendering of the COVID-19 virus. The dandelion serves as a metaphor for the universality of loss during the pandemic and a symbol of resilience.
Surrounded by a public park, the monument will be publicly accessible 24/7. The commission plans to unveil the memorial by fall 2025.