Grief Happy Hour / Thoughts & Prayers
With Dona Laurita and Erika Mahoney

Join photographer Dona Laurita for another installment of the Grief Happy Hour series with special guest speaker, Erika Mahoney, daughter of King Sooper shooting victim, Kevin Mahoney, and creator of the Senseless podcast. Let’s face it: “The Grieving a Loved One” Club is the worst club. No one asks to join, the cost of entry is steep, and each of its countless members find themselves facing a strange new world, much like the one they once knew but emptier. Grief is, at its core, a terribly lonely experience.. We are interested in the possibility that grief is an emotion to lean into. With proper support, we have an opportunity to connect with our pain in an unhurried and deeply profound way.

Light refreshments will be served.
$5.00 suggested Donation.
No one turned away.

This evening also marks the closing of the exhibit, Thoughts & Prayers by Berger & Föhr. A body of work developed between 2021 and 2023 in response to the 2021 King Soopers shooting in Boulder, Colorado, and the 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Centered on nine of the most lethal mass shootings in the United States at the time of the work’s conception, with Boulder included as the project’s local and initiating event, the exhibition began with the repeated public refrain “thoughts and prayers,” then expanded into an inquiry into assault-style rifle access. The exhibition brings together text-based print works, cast shell casings, video, and supporting documentation to examine language, access, and consequence, and the distance between symbolic response and structural change. Throughout the creation and presentation of this work, Berger & Föhr have sought to approach the material with care, thoughtfulness, and respect for the lives lost and for the families, friends, and communities most affected by these events.

Content note: This exhibition contains material related to mass shootings, gun violence, and loss. Some viewers may find the work difficult or emotionally affecting.

Image credit: © Robert Frank 1976