ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Floral altars to victims have become an all-too-familiar symbol of the high price communities pay whenever there's a mass shooting, communities like those in Orlando, Buffalo, Uvalde, Winder and more. Behind those altars are the hands that craft many of these memorials. NPR's Lakshmi Singh brings us the story of two Los Angeles-based artists who've made it their life's mission to create new spaces where people can grieve together.
LAKSHMI SINGH, BYLINE: Set designers Noah Reich and David Maldonado are coming to know Winder, Ga., under the worst of circumstances. Some things are familiar, like the late-night trip to a big box store to pick up a cart full of materials for floral altars.
DAVID MALDONADO: I think the, like, sandbag is just, like, a good solution for us.
SINGH: Equally familiar, the unexpected acts of kindness, like the drug store's gift of photos of four victims of the September 4 school shooting.
MALDONADO: So these will be the portraits that we use. So if you see them, you'll know that you were able to make that happen.
UNIDENTIFIED STORE CLERK: OK. I'm glad we could help.
MALDONADO: I appreciate it.
UNIDENTIFIED STORE CLERK: Have a blessed day and be safe.
MALDONADO: The other time, like, the community came together like this, we got some free roses for when we went to Las Vegas.
SINGH: Maldonado says Winder is the 21st community he and his partner have visited, the somber tradition they began after the 2016 shooting at a gay night club in Orlando.
NOAH REICH: These spaces that were sanctuaries for us and sanctuaries for our community were essentially taken away from us.
SINGH: Reich says they needed to restore their own faith in humanity. They run a nonprofit now called Classroom for Compassion and teach families to make memorials for their loved ones.
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SINGH: And with the help of crowdfunding, they travel to communities in their darkest hour. Maldonado and Reich add their gift to a carpet of colorful flower bouquets, cards and balloons outside Apalachee High School.
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SINGH: The frames go up. They're spray painted white.
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SINGH: Then the pictures are attached with white silk flowers to adorn the frames. A crowd slowly gathers. A man bites his lower lip. A woman brushes away a tear. And Maldonado notices for a moment the air is still.
MALDONADO: Usually, when we arrive on site, we'll try to find something just a little bit to the side, a little bit more private when we're creating the altars. And we've found that people will usually stop by and just feel a little bit more open and willing to talk and share as opposed to being at the main memorial site, where it can feel very, like, heavy with grief.
SINGH: Sharon Lord is a teacher who traveled 40 miles to Winder because she says she is heartbroken and angry.
SHARON LORD: To be mandated to teach behind a closed door is very concerning for me. I don't feel safer that I have to teach behind a closed door, even though I know that's the purpose of it.
SINGH: Reich says his and Maldonado's purpose...
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Do you guys need help?
SINGH: ...Is to create a safe space to grieve and to remember the lives lost - 14-year-olds Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, 53-year-old Cristina Irimie and 39-year-old Ricky Aspinwall. I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News, Winder, Ga.
(SOUNDBITE OF LOUIS YORK SONG, "ALONE A LOT") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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