MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota — One thousand hearts hang from the fence behind Mill City Museum in Minneapolis. Each wooden heart holds a message written by someone in the community.
We are living in a historic moment and the Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS) is capturing a piece of that history by getting to the heart of it.
"History is happening right now and so we wanted to ask people how they want to remember this moment and how they want future generations to remember this moment," said Ami Naff, an exhibits researcher with MNHS. "This is sort of one way of capturing that."
With many MNHS museums closed, this was one way of bringing an exhibit to the community. MNHS said they wanted people to make connections to this historic moment in a way that was tangible.
The "History at Heart" exhibit went on display last month outside the Mill City Museum courtyard on W River Parkway. Local artist Kelsi Sharp created the wooden hearts for the installation. The public was encouraged to write or draw on a heart and then hang it onto the fence. MNHS offered open-ended prompts like "Who will you remember?" but they also left it open for people to write or draw whatever they wanted on the hearts.
"The people have things to say. We all have something to share. So this is a way of offering space for people to share and see the history as it happens," Naff said.
On many hearts, it said "Justice for Floyd" and "Black Lives Matter." Other hearts expressed grief over a loved one dying from COVID-19.
"We're seeing people share all sides of their lives. So you're sharing the grief, you're sharing the grief about COVID, you're sharing grief over the murder of George Floyd. People are sharing their hope, people are sharing the moments of laughter that they're finding. We're seeing everything," Naff said.
MNHS does not have plans to collect all the hearts but they've been taking photos of them and will possibly keep them for a future exhibit.
"I am surprised by the humor and the joy that's coming through and also how resonate they all are. I feel connected with all of these little hearts even though I don't know who made it... There's one that just says 'Hug' and it's like, 'Yeah, I want a hug. That's what I want.'"
Delia Bujold lives near Mill City Museum. While out on a walk with her friend, they stopped to look at the exhibit.
When asked what Bujold would put on her heart, she said, "Hope. We'll get through this. It's not easy but we will."
The installation at Mill City will be up through the end of August. In the coming weeks, they will put up new hearts at Split Rock Lighthouse and at Hallie Q. Brown in St. Paul.
You can read Minnesotans' stories related to COVID and submit your own, here.