exhibit<\/a> is a community effort, with portraits painted by area residents, plus between 15 and 17 families of those killed in the 2016 shooting.<\/p>\n\u201cWe helped the families paint their own loved ones,\u201d Ardeman said.<\/p>\n
The process began in 2017 and took a long time, over many painting sessions. The portraits were made in a paint-by-number format: filled in with color over time, section by section, until each face emerged from the canvas.<\/p>\n
Not every face was ultimately finished, though. Ardeman said that was intentional, meant to highlight the \u201cbuilding blocks\u201d of how people are made: \u201cwith care, with thoughtfulness, with creativity, with a hand of intelligence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are woven together in God’s image, and so we’re weaving this painting together,\u201d Ardeman said.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781259610_441_.jpeg\"\/)
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Molly Duerig<\/p>\n
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Central Florida Public Media<\/p>\n
A portrait of Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz is one of several in the traveling memorial that remain unfinished. The memorial honors the 49 people who were killed at Pulse.<\/p>\n
\u2018Their lives were unfinished\u2019<\/p>\n
The incompleteness of some of the portraits is intentional for another reason, too, according to District 4 City Commissioner Patty Sheehan. \u201cSome of these portraits are unfinished, because their families said their lives were unfinished.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pointing out one of those portraits, of Miguel Angel Honorato, Sheehan became emotional: tearing up as she explained he was shot in the face. \u201cThat’s why his face isn’t finished.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781259611_68_.jpeg\"\/)
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Molly Duerig<\/p>\n
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Central Florida Public Media<\/p>\n
A portrait of Miguel Angel Honorato, one of the 49 people killed in the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016, hangs at Orlando City Hall\u2019s Terrace Gallery. His is one of several portraits in the exhibit that remain partially unfinished.<\/p>\n
An artist herself, Sheehan said it was the honor of her lifetime to be able to paint one of the portraits: of Luis Daniel Wilson Leon, who went by \u201cDani.\u201d His family gave Sheehan their blessing, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the most important thing I’ve ever painted,\u201d Sheehan said. \u201cThat\u2019s the only thing I\u2019ve ever signed with a heart.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the time since the shooting, Sheehan said, Central Florida communities have gone through lots of pain. But some important healing has also taken place.<\/p>\n
![\"District](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781259611_613_.jpeg\"\/)
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Molly Duerig<\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
Central Florida Public Media<\/p>\n
District 4 City Commissioner Patty Sheehan painted one portrait in the traveling exhibit, of Luis Daniel \u201cDani” Wilson Leon. She signed the portrait with a heart, something Sheehan said she had never previously done for any of her other artwork.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hate that any community has to go through this. It’s a sad fellowship: all the communities who have had gunshot violence, mass shootings,\u201d Sheehan said. \u201cBut I think Orlando came together in a way that was amazing and beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the years since 2016, some local religious leaders who had previously \u201cscorned\u201d members of the LGBTQ+ community have become more welcoming, Sheehan said. (Although the Pulse shooter did not set out to kill LGBTQ+ people specifically, the nightclub was an important meeting place for members of the LGBTQ+ community, who make up many of those killed and affected by the tragedy.)<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a tremendous amount of change that happened in this community after this. And these young people’s lives did make a difference,\u201d Sheehan said.<\/p>\n
Following Pulse, many survivors, frontline responders and other residents directly affected by the massacre mobilized to form the Contigo Fund<\/a>. According to the advocacy group, it has directed millions of dollars in support to LGBTQ+ initiatives across Central Florida in the years since the tragedy.<\/p>\n ![\"Orlando](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781259612_143_.jpeg\"\/)
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Molly Duerig<\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
Central Florida Public Media<\/p>\n
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and District 4 Commissioner Patty Sheehan speak to reporters in front of the Terrace Gallery at City Hall, where a traveling Pulse memorial is on display through August 23.<\/p>\n
\u2018Life is precious\u2019<\/p>\n
For both Sheehan and Ardeman, moving forward does not look like forgetting or \u201cmoving on\u201d from the pain of the Pulse shooting, but honoring and learning from it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s okay to grieve, it’s okay to be emotional. It’s okay to get help,\u201d Sheehan said.<\/p>\n
The traveling memorial underscores the sacredness of life, Ardeman said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like what our motto is: \u2018from adversity springs seeds of greatness,\u2019\u201d Ardeman said. \u201cSo we don’t want to stay anchored in what it was, but what we can learn from it: which is how important life is. From womb to tomb, from beginning to end, life is precious.\u201d<\/p>\n
The traveling memorial will be up at City Hall through August 23. Meanwhile, plans are underway for a permanent Pulse memorial in Orlando.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Midday sunlight shines through the windows of Orlando City Hall\u2019s Terrace Gallery, casting brightness onto the white gallery…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":305025,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[139,141,140],"class_list":["post-305024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\u2018Created](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781259609_532_.jpeg\"\/)
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