Our
Stories
Carry
Us
Forward.
What is this?
Boulder County Public Health has worked shoulder-to-shoulder with local creatives and county leadership to create interactive art installations across Boulder County, featuring oral histories of hope and loss from the pandemic. Using a trauma-informed approach to guide decisions, the concepts were community-driven with initial direction and inspiration drawn from multi-faceted creative leadership cohorts.
The design centered around community voice and is the result of creative groups across Boulder County. This led into creating diverse design teams, including participants from local government, CU professors, bluegrass musicians, opera singers, and immigration activists, who collaboratively shaped the oral history project.
They uncovered fears of the unknown woven with poignant memories, disconnects between the actions we take for ourselves and how they affect the community, and the not-so-subtle push and pull of constant, crucial, conflicting information leaving us feeling disjointed, pulled apart by violent ambivalence.
“Story Collective” stands as a testament to the power of community, creativity, and empathy in times of adversity. We invite everyone to immerse themselves in these unique art installations, capturing the essence of our shared pandemic journey.
What was learned?
Data, science, and stories go hand in hand
Throughout time, humans have used our best understanding of science to guide our actions. We then turn that understanding into narrative, which becomes the wisdom we pass to future generations.
Understanding Drives Our Actions
Pandemics are collective events. The COVID-19 pandemic happened to us as a community. Yet much of our experience of the pandemic was necessarily endured in isolation to protect each other from contagion. Although separation was important to keep us all safe, it was motivated by our hope of returning to a place of togetherness.
Repairing the Ruptures Together
By and large, our society has barreled ahead without collective acknowledgment of what each of us experienced. This individualized experience of trauma, grief and loss has left many of us adrift without vocabulary to truly articulate what we experienced, communicate it to others and collectively heal what has been broken and grieve what we’ve lost so we can move into the future together.
Visit the art
In Nederland, the Fairy Garden is our proof of life after enduring the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s an ecosystem that relies on help from its community to maintain its well-being. From the soil packed into the glass to the enchanting villages living on top of it, the existence of this cube was made possible by a large group of Nederland neighbors, friends, and artists.
In Longmont, the installation focuses on stories gathered from the pandemic—living memories that capture this exact moment in time. Some stories are free form, others scripted. Some are about hope, some are about loss and grief. Have a seat in Grandma’s nook. Pick up the phone, see who is on the other line, and take a moment to be part of someone else’s memory.
In Lafayette, our 90s phone booth creates a collective ritual to capture the oral history of the past few years and offer a communal experience that lends a listening ear for our stories, allowing us to live with them and find new narratives.
Hear from your neighbors
This message is anchored by the oral histories gathered from every facet of our county. Do you have a story to share from the pandemic? We would love to hear it!
This work is produced by Boulder County Public Health in partnership with local creatives and county leadership. For current COVID-19 guidance, visit:
www.boco.org/covid-19