BULLITT COUNTY, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Bullitt County family was honored Saturday in this year's Black Balloon Project art exhibit in Northern Kentucky.
It's an event that tries to humanize the people who have died from overdoses and break the stigma that surrounds their death.
"Substance use disorder, addiction, mistakes, they don't just happen in certain neighborhoods. They happen in every neighborhood. They happen in every family. It is not a low income thing and it's not a race thing and it's not a gender thing. It is a community problem," Gabi Deaton said.
Deaton started the project in 2016 following the death of her friend to an overdose. Each year she travels to families all over the Ohio and Kentucky region to photograph them holding a black balloon and a portrait of their loved one who has died from an overdose. Every family reaches out to Deaton on their own.
Black Balloon Project founder Gabi Deaton shown here with a photo of her friend Zach who died from an overdose and sparked this project.
"I think in the beginning, it was my way of apologizing to Zach, my way of saying, 'I wasn't always that bright influence in your life and I didn't always advocate for your success,'" Deaton said. "When I was in my active addiction and so I think I use that as my own grieving process."
Last year, the involvement was so high she asked the Life Learning Center in Covington if she could borrow their space to reveal the photos to the families. This year she has 111 family portraits to display.
The Thurman family is one of them.
Laura Thurman lost her 23-year-old daughter Morgan Lewis last year. Lewis died from cocaine laced with Fentanyl.
Now, Thurman and her husband run Morgan's Mission, a non-profit that is trying to raise awareness about overdoses and how Narcan, an overdose reversing drug, can save lives.
"We want a Narcan vending machine in Bullitt County because like, for instance, us, we never thought that we would that we would need Narcan. But now that we know how it can save lives, we we think everyone should be equipped with Narcan," Thurman said.
The Thurman family had their portrait taken in February for the Black Balloon Project and Saturday was the first time they got to see it.
The Thurman family was featured in this year's Black Balloon art exhibit after Laura Thurman lost her daughter last year.
"It's difficult but usually you meet a lot of moms and dad and it's very comforting," Thurman said.
The event was from noon until 3 p.m. Saturday at the Life Learning Center in Covington, Kentucky. Along with the reveal, there was wrap around services, like grief counselors available.
"There's nothing I can say to fix them being there," Deaton said. "But I just have to keep reminding myself that I am trying to help them recover and work on their grief while also trying to open the rest of the communities eyes that a lot of these family members didn't think they'd be here either."
The night before the event, Thurman made a chilling discovery when looking back at her daughter's Facebook profile.
"Morgan shared Gabi's event in 2021," Thurman said. "So, Morgan knew about the Black Balloon Project. When I saw her phone and I see that she had shared this and then that now she is actually part of it. It was mind blowing."
Monday, Deaton will release all of this year's involved families in a social media post.Â
"We understand so we can talk to each other," Thurman said. "We hug each other, we cry together, we laugh together. It's like I said before, it's just sadly beautiful but it's very comforting."
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