An artist and a team of volunteers have begun planting nearly 700,000 white flags on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. to commemorate the American lives lost to COVID-19 (watch above).

“When numbers get so large, it becomes difficult to really understand them,” artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg told Reuters. “So I, as a visual artist, wanted to make the number physical. I wanted to physically manifest it.”

When Firstenberg started planning the installation in June, she calculated that 630,000 flags would be more than enough to represent every COVID-19 fatality in the U.S. But cases surged this summer and the death toll has surpassed 670,000. Firstenberg has recently ordered an additional 60,000 flags.

People who lost loved ones to COVID-19 can leave messages on the flags by filling out an online form or coming to the site in person.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution explains:

At first [Firstenberg] considered using American flags to represent the lives lost to COVID-19, but she worried about politicizing her art in an election year and ultimately settled on plain white. “A white flag is perfect because it can be written on,” she said. “And white is the color of innocence and purity.”

It just made sense to honor the people who died, Firstenberg said. And once all the flags are planted, she said, the big white block might even be interpreted as a flag of surrender.

“Early on, we gave in to our lesser selves, and I hope now that seeing all these flags gives our nation a moment to pause and to think about who we are,” she said. “This says something about who we are as Americans.”

Firstenberg told NPR that her art was inspired by the rage she felt after Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said that the U.S. economy is more important than COVID-19 precautions.

“That really disturbed me. I just felt as though someone had to do something to make a statement that with all these people dying, we had to value each of these lives as well,” she said.

The Journal-Constitution adds:

It’s the second time Firstenberg has planted the flags to commemorate the dead. Volunteers in October placed 219,000 flags in a 4-acre field near Northeast Washington’s RFK Stadium. Flags were added each day as the virus killed more people in the U.S., and by the end of the installation’s five-week run on Nov. 30, 267,000 flags stood in the field — a visual representation of the rapidly growing winter death toll.

The new art installation covers 20 acres of grass and will be on display from Sept. 17 to Oct. 3.