After September 11, 2001, those of us far from the actual tragedies struggled to find an outlet for our grief. I was deeply moved by the makeshift shrines that appeared on the streets of New York City—the missing posters taped to windows, the offerings left in remembrance. I began printing these posters myself, creating small altars for the lost.

That led to a series of midnight guerrilla art installations at Denver bus stops—temporary shrines that, to my dismay, were quickly dismantled by the city. Wanting something more permanent, I spent a year designing and fundraising to create a lasting public installation. In collaboration with the Boulder Public Library, I built a piece for the first anniversary of the tragedy: a plexiglass and steel structure, where the posters of the missing were sandwiched between transparent plates. Pens were attached for messages, cupholders for flowers and offerings—an open space for remembrance that could not be erased.