New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) launched an engaging visual memorial to honor and pay tribute to 136 of its employees who have lost their lives due to COVID-19.

Built around photographs shared by family members, the memorial was designed by MTA Arts & Design at the request of Sarah Feinberg, interim president of MTA New York City Transit. The memorial is entitled “TRAVELS FAR,” after a poem written by former U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith, who was commissioned for the project (view the full poem below). The memorial will appear in multiple languages at MTA stations. The online version of the memorial is accompanied by an original score of the same name by composer Christopher Thompson, who was also commissioned for the project. The tribute involved many others, including New York City Transit liaisons to the families and in-house talent from marketing, web, and digital content teams. 

The memorial will appear as an eight-minute video running on 138 three-panel digital screens at 107 subway stations from Jan. 25 to Feb. 7. The video will play twice consecutively three times per day, and is available to view online.

"COVID-19 has been a devastating scourge on our entire country and, tragically, that includes the MTA's workforce," said MTA Chairman and CEO Patrick J. Foye. "We quickly made sure that those families who lost an MTA worker to COVID were taken care of financially, but the launch of [the] memorial is aimed at personalizing the legacies of those who died during the pandemic. It is a moving tribute to the members of our heroic workforce who lost their lives and we will continue to make sure those who perished are not forgotten." 

View additional photos from the memorial unveiling.

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