TRAVELS FAR: A memorial honoring our colleagues lost to COVID-19
TRAVELS FAR
What you gave—
brief tokens of regard,
soft words uttered
barely heard,
the smile glimpsed
from a passing car.
Through stations
and years, through
the veined chambers
of a stranger’s heart—
what you gave
travels far.
—Tracy K. Smith
About this memorial
TRAVELS FAR is a memorial honoring our MTA colleagues lost to COVID-19. It is the product of a collaboration between MTA Arts & Design, MTA New York City Transit, and the families of the employees lost to COVID-19, who shared photographs and selected the colors in the portraits.
TRAVELS FAR takes its name from an original poem by former U.S. poet laureate, Tracy K. Smith, commissioned for the memorial. You can read Tracy K. Smith’s poem in Bengali, Chinese, English, Haitian Creole, Korean, Russian, and Spanish. An original score by composer Christopher Thompson, also commissioned for this tribute, can be heard in the online memorial.
Sandra Bloodworth, Director, MTA Arts & Design, who is a visual artist, led the creative effort on TRAVELS FAR, with contributions from Cheryl Hageman and Victoria Statsenko. Andrew Wilcox, Senior Advisor, MTA New York City Transit, Office of the President, co-led the project. Graphics support was provided by Connie dePalma, Gene Ribeiro, and Gary Jenkins, with web design by Hannah Birch. Many others across the MTA, including the Family Liaison Unit, helped bring TRAVELS FAR to fruition.
