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Las Vegas shooting victims honored in art exhibition


Last updated September 13, 2018

By Tina Underwood

Fifty-eight lives, 58 portraits. Through works of art, Ellen Culbertson Abramo, a 2000 Furman University art major turned education graduate (MA), is honoring those who perished in the Oct. 1, 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting. She and her cousin, Kortney Goodman Struempf, have coordinated an effort to have portraits made of the victims by artists in the United States. But word of the Las Vegas Portraits Projects (LVPP) spread, and the two received 100s of entries from all over the world.

The work of the 58 selected artists will be on display Sept. 17- Oct. 19 through a collaboration with Vegas Strong Resiliency Center, Clark County Government Center, and the Nevada State Museum – Las Vegas. Families of the victims and the artists are invited to a special showing Oct. 4 to view the exhibit and meet one another. Following the exhibit, the portraits will be shipped to the victims’ families. Amid a sea of media coverage, the LVPP was featured recently on FOX News. The portraits can also be viewed on Facebook and Instagram.

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