Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg Explained

Career

Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg (born October 6, 1959) is an American social practice artist. She focuses primarily on large-scale, public art installations that explore current issues with the goal of raising awareness, decreasing stigma, and fostering compassion. Her public art exhibitions, including The Empty Fix Project, , and alienable right to life, explore how topics such as addiction, COVID-19, and gun violence affect Americans and their daily experiences.

In America: Remember

Firstenberg designed the art installation, which initially placed over 660,000 miniature white flags on the National Mall to represent every American life lost to COVID-19. During the 17 day exhibition, another 41,000 flags were added due to uptick in COVID deaths in the fall of 2021, bringing the total flags to 701,000.

Career Change

At the age of 50, Firstenberg “accidentally” became an artist after taking a ceramics class. Her first project, sculpting a bust of a woman, ignited her inner artist. Since that first sculpture, she continued to explore mixed media, including painting, drawing, welding, neon-tube bending, stone carving, ice sculpting, and more.

Public Speaking

Firstenberg routinely engages in public speaking opportunities to discuss the value of public, participatory art in the world.

In 2023, Firstenberg began speaking about the growing connection between political extremism and addiction, based on research she conducted for her art. She has engaged with multiple spaces on this topic, including the TedxFoggyBottom Speaker Series, the American Democracy Summit, and the National Citizen Leadership Conference. In these speeches, she explains how addiction frameworks can help communities understand political extremism.

Public Exhibits

2024

• alienable right to life - Washington DC, USA (Freedom Plaza)

2023   

• Reflect II (The Empty Fix Project) - Rockville, MD, USA (Rockville Town Square)

2022

• Protect Them (The Empty Fix Project) - Rockville, MD, USA (Rockville Town Square)

2021

• - Washington DC, USA (National Mall)

2020

• In America: How could this happen… - Washington DC, USA (DC Armory Mall)

2019

• Eyes (The Empty Fix Project) - Rockville, MD, USA (Executive Office Building Plaza)
• Unforgotten (The Empty Fix Project) - Rockville, MD, USA (One Bethesda Metro Plaza)

2016

• Metro Arts Walk (Collaborative Public Art Project: Washington Metropolitan), Area Transit Authority (WMATA), Strathmore Hall Foundation, and Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) - North Bethesda, Maryland, USA (Grosvenor-Strathmore Metro Plaza)
• 30th Annual Harbin International Ice Sculpture Competition, Ice and Snow World (Invitational) - Harbin, China
• 21st Annual Harbin International Snow Sculpture Competition Sun Island (Invitational) - Harbin, China

Reception

• World’s Best Public Art of 2021 – Artsy Magazine
• Washingtonian of the Year 2021 – Washingtonian Magazine
• Resilience of the Human Spirit Recognition (2021) – National Geographic
• Inclusion in “Google Year in Search 2021”
• Information is Beautiful Award 2022 (shortlisted) - Global Data Visualization Society
• Creativity Prize – Harbin International Ice Sculpting Competition; Harbin, China 2016

Personal life

Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg grew up in South Dakota as one of five children. She graduated from the University of Kentucky with a BA and later received an MBA from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Early career moves took her from the pharmaceutical industry to the United States Senate, where she staffed for Senator Tom Daschle (D-SD) (1990-1991). For balance, Firstenberg volunteers with the terminally ill. She is married and has three children.

Media Notes

• American Democracy Summit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ3qf_s6GkA
• TEDx Foggy Bottom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-qUmeT1-fE
• https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/i-will-never-be-the-same-4-years-on-remembering-the-lives-lost-to-covid-19/3564258/
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/03/17/covid-families-flags-pandemic-grief/
• https://www.washingtonian.com/2024/04/02/a-striking-new-work-from-the-artist-behind-the-covid-flags-on-the-mall/
• "Visitors See More Than Just Grief And Loss At COVID-19 Memorial In D.C." https://www.npr.org/2021/09/26/1040791827/visitors-see-more-than-just-grief-and-loss-at-covid-19-memorial-in-d-c
• "Photos: Over 650,000 white flags commemorate pandemic's toll on the U.S." Los Angeles Times. September 21, 2021. https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-09-20/photos-washington-dc-art-installation-covids-toll