Pulse

This visual poetry project is dedicated to the victims of the Pulse massacre who lost their lives during a simple night out with loved ones and strangers, forever embedded and united in history on that tragic night.

On June 12, 2016, a horrific attack on the Queer and Trans communities took place at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, FL.  As a result, 49 lives were taken, culminating in the largest mass murder on American soil since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  I created the following poem and subsequent artwork in memory of the lives lost in this massacre.  Everyone named died too soon at the hands of an anguished gunman.  May they rest in peace and power and may their deaths not be in vain.

Lies
Guise
Lives
Lost

Lost
Us
Great
Costs

But It
Became
Our Hope
So Came:

The Start
Of Change
After
Rampage.

Did we sin?
Feared by kin
We were in
Peace within.

Queer and Trans,
Black and Brown –
Hate entrenched
Scorn renown.

Dead queer bodies
With melanin
And martyred by
The fear within.

Radicalized
He terrorized
And fantasized
The genocide.

Loud, rattled and dazed
In dark, clouded haze
They hid as they gazed
Amidst their last days.

Queer, Trans, day-to-day,
Discrimination
Of our condition.
Now these bodies lay…

This drawing was created in memory of the Pulse victims.  Featured are 49 black shapes in memory of the 49 souls we lost in this massacre and 53 white shapes in memory of the injured survivors.  Together, these 102 shapes create the body and foreground of this drawing.  Additionally, featured in the background are other shapes presented in the colors of the rainbow, in honor of the queer and trans communities against whom this attack took place.
Unfortunately, as of June 12, 2017, two of the survivors have also passed away due to external circumstances.

Featured are the faces of the 49 victims of the Pulse massacre, with their images layered on top of one another to simulate the haze of this attack and in honor of the queer and allied lives we lost at that fateful night.

This is another digital composite of the faces of the victims, overlaid on top of the drawing I originally created for this project.

This image is a more somber tribute to the victims.  Similar to the two composite images above, the faces of the victims have been presented in grayscale, with the only color in this digital collage due to the drawing on which their images have been overlaid.

 

The following is a list of the names and ages of the victims of the Pulse massacre, provided by the City of Orlando:

Stanley Almodovar III, 23 years old

Amanda Alvear, 25 years old

Oscar A Aracena-Montero, 26 years old

Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala, 33 years old

Antonio Davon Brown, 29 years old

Darryl Roman Burt II, 29 years old

Angel L. Candelario-Padro, 28 years old

Juan Chevez-Martinez, 25 years old

Luis Daniel Conde, 39 years old

Cory James Connell, 21 years old

Tevin Eugene Crosby, 25 years old

Deonka Deidra Drayton, 32 years old

Simon Adrian Carrillo Fernandez, 31 years old

Leroy Valentin Fernandez, 25 years old

Mercedez Marisol Flores, 26 years old

Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, 22 years old

Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22 years old

Paul Terrell Henry, 41 years old

Frank Hernandez, 27 years old

Miguel Angel Honorato, 30 years old

Javier Jorge-Reyes, 40 years old

Jason Benjamin Josaphat, 19 years old

Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, 30 years old

Anthony Luis Laureanodisla, 25 years old

Christopher Andrew Leinonen, 32 years old

Alejandro Barrios Martinez, 21 years old

Brenda Lee Marquez McCool, 49 years old

Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez, 25 years old

Kimberly Morris, 37 years old

Akyra Monet Murray, 18 years old

Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, 20 years old

Geraldo A. Ortiz-Jimenez, 25 years old

Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36 years old

Joel Rayon Paniagua, 32 years old

Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, 35 years old

Enrique L. Rios, Jr., 25 years old

Jean C. Nives Rodriguez, 27 years old

Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, 35 years old

Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz, 24 years old

Yilmary Rodriguez Solivan, 24 years old

Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34 years old

Shane Evan Tomlinson, 33 years old

Martin Benitez Torres, 33 years old

Jonathan Antonio Camuy Vega, 24 years old

Juan P. Rivera Velazquez, 37 years old

Luis S. Vielma, 22 years old

Franky Jimmy Dejesus Velazquez, 50 years old

Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, 37 years old

Jerald Arthur Wright, 31 years old