From Parkland to Las Vegas, and Columbine to Sandy Hook, Greg Zanis’ work has been a comfort to those suffering in the aftermath of whichever mass shooting was the latest to lead the news cycle. Zanis spent years creating almost 27,000 handcrafted memorials for every mass shooting victim, and traveled hundreds of thousands of miles at his own expense to lovingly place each one. But now the carpenter has announced his retirement – emotionally exhausted by the heartbreak of his work amid the ongoing epidemic of mass shootings in America. Zanis spoke to the Guardian in July 2012, after a mass shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, claimed 12 lives, most in their teens or 20s. “We have accepted to further all the fine work that Greg has done,” the church said.

Source: The Guardian December 27, 2019 17:26 UTC