Morningside Lights is an annual outdoor procession featuring dozens of lanterns built by volunteers from Columbia University and surrounding neighborhoods. This year, the celebration returns to the pathways of Morningside Park, rekindling an 11-year community tradition of shaping our stories in light.

Looking back on all that has happened since we last walked together has made us wonder about how our culture constructs and contains collective memory in public space – how we memorialize. This year’s theme, The Reimagined Monument, is a timely invitation to our community of makers to rethink the convention of public statuary, creating their own monuments to speak to our current moment, our shared past, and our hopes for the future.