As friends, family, and the community at large continue to mourn those who perished in the December 2 Ghost Ship fire, KQED Arts has released a video honoring the dead. The video consists of drawings of the deceased, alongside notes documenting each individual's involvement in the arts — a common thread that bound them all together.
"Thirty-six lives were lost in the Oakland Warehouse Fire on the night of Dec. 2, 2016," reads a statement accompanying the video. "They were artists, musicians, sound engineers, DJs, writers, events organizers and activists. They came from the Bay and from around the world. This is KQED Arts’ tribute to their lives and to the inextinguishable spirit and power of their creativity."
Notably, one of the deceased, Alex Ghassan, actually worked at KQED. Ghassan, 35, of Oakland was a documentary filmmaker and producer, and KQED published a profile on him shortly after his death was confirmed.
The tribute makes it tragically clear just how big of a hit this was to the Bay Area arts scene, in addition to the obvious tragic loss to friends and family.
