Sites of contestation: kaleidoscopes of memory and the shrouding of Latinx lives in the Interim National Pulse Memorial

Abstract

Since the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre, a plethora of artistic and commemorative efforts have been erected in Orlando, Florida. While the commemorative sites have brought attention to LGQTB + causes and visibility in the area, they have also obfuscated the presence of queer Latinx lives that were disproportionately affected by the massacre. With twenty-three of the forty-nine victims being Puerto Rican and 90% being Latinx, the presence of Latinx lives in this commemorative wall has brought attention to the simultaneous visibility and invisibility of Latinxs in the Central Florida region. This article examines the Pulse nightclub’s physical and archived artistic productions to create a mosaic commemorative site that breaks spatial and temporal limitations. I develop the concept of kaleidoscopes of memory, or the continual structural and intersectional traumas that define memory for minoritized peoples, to better understand the representational incongruencies in the memorial wall. This article reveals the tensions and contradictions of Latinx belonging in Central Florida that experience continual shrouding in the broader US imagination.