When Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan tasked me with creating a memorial for our city’s residents who could not have funerals, my first thought was of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer who was waging a valiant fight against the #Covid-19 pandemic. I knew that, whatever we did, people could not gather. So I planned a funeral. And I planned it for 1,500 families as if I were planning it for one. Thus, the city hosted 15 funeral processions past 924 photo billboards to give families a chance to say good-bye to loved ones who did not get the home-goings they deserved. The installation, the largest public art in the city’s history, was covered by media and foundations around the world. And it all was the result of a constituent asking the mayor for a memorial, and the mayor saying: “Make it so.”