Abstract
Grief and death are part of the human experience. Most of us have suffered or will suffer the loss of a loved one caused by illness, accident, violence, natural disaster, or migration. And while popular discourse about grief tends toward personalized forms of bereavement, an image on a brick wall memorializing a slain friend, local hero, or cultural icon is a reminder that sorrow and loss are also collectively experienced. In urban neighborhoods, displays of col-lective grief are evinced by “Rest in Peace” messages scribbled on a billboard advertisement, engravings of a nickname on a school wall, and inscriptions of a person’s date of birth and death on a public sidewalk.