LONDON — Bit by bit, a Covid-19 sanctuary has sprung up on the hills of the town of Bedworth in central England. This process was meant to be a metaphor for human life. Like bones fused together over time, as the monument’s creators spent months putting together intricate pieces of wood into the skeletal structure, it grew taller, eventually reaching a height of 65 feet.
Then they burned it all down.
There are always memorials commemorating the loss of life due to tragic events such as the World Wars, the September 11th attacks and thousands of memorials dedicated to the Holocaust.
But the Covid-19 pandemic, now in its third year, presents a unique challenge for grieving families. This is not a single event in one location. Worldwide, as his death toll of more than 6 million continues to rise, communities and families are paying tribute and erecting memorials, but at the same time, tragedy is spreading, and the consequences are devastating. Not written yet.
A new monument has been installed. Old projects are expanding. Photos and biographies of Covid-19 victims Malaysia When South Africa Updated online. Village and urban landscapes change from waist-high structures by memory. rajanaphetIndia, to Spinning pinwheel fixed Promenade in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The name is painted on a wall along the River Thames in London. rocks arranged in a heart on a farm in New Jersey. Thousands of fluttering flags were planted in the Rhode Island State Capitol. The ribbon is tied to the fence of a church in South Africa.
“People died alone in hospitals, or had loved ones unable to see them or hold their hands, so some of these memorials are better send-offs,” said Erica Doss, a professor at the University of Notre Dame. It might have something to do with how Americans use memorials.
“We really need to remember and we need to do it now,” Dr. Doss said. It’s a strange monument to .They’re kind of fluid.They’re timeless.”
Death is not easy for the builders of these monuments to capture. It is as vast and elusive as an airborne virus that has taken life and left the question of how to create a physical manifestation out of the void.
For the builders of the sanctuary in the former coal mining town of Bedworth, the answer is to leave the pine and birch arches, spiers and cornices of some 1,000 carved communal arts and turn to ash at sunset on 28 May. did. .
One organizer says the necessary moment is an event of catharsis and rebirth, allowing those who saw the sanctuary standing back to see it vanish.
“It will still be in their minds,” said Helen Marridge, the project’s producer.
heart wall
More than a year after its launch, we are still adding new names to the thousands of hearts on the walls along the River Thames in London.
Walk along a distance of about half a mile (0.5 miles) to see how death destroyed generations and left most of the country untouched. Arabic, Portuguese, Spanish and Urdu are among his languages of messages to ‘Grandpa’, ‘Mama’, ‘Papa’ and ‘Nana’.
Uncle Joshua. my brother. my first friend.
Their authors tried to understand death. Someone described Sandra Otter’s January 30, 2021 death as ‘getting angel wings too soon’.
The virus hit neighbors, comedians and drinking buddies whose stories were told in wall markers. The cookie is “still remembered at the post office”. To all London ‘Taxi, RIP’.
Some tried to make sense of the loss. Angela Powell “wasn’t just a number”. A woman named Sonia said to Jemal Hussein:
The wall’s founders are citizens and activists who started drawing empty minds towards the end of the UK’s lockdown last year. In the UK on death certificates he can be seen from the Houses of Parliament across the river to represent her more than 150,000 people who had Covid-19.
Soon, the mind had countless names attached to it.
“We can’t control it,” said volunteer Fran Hall, who regularly paints new minds and hides the abusive graffiti that appears.
“We could be drawing one section, and people are adding hearts further down,” she said. “It’s still happening. It’s really organic.”
shared grief
Dacia Viejo Rose, who studies the use of monuments by society at the University of Cambridge, says the ‘coming out’ of grief over Covid-19 is compelling because so many people suffer in isolation. Told.
“I was so concerned with the statistics of dying people that I lost sight of individual suffering,” she said. “We lost sight of the individual stories.”
Grieving people often seek solace in unrelated memorials, she said.
One day in June, Du Chen, a student from China studying at the University of Manchester, knelt down and wrote in Mandarin on one of London’s painted hearts, “I wish you all good health.” I was.
“People are not only mourning those who died, they are also mourning how they lived before the pandemic.
A family of tourists from Spain stopped to say they were also suffering.A 10-year-old Alba Prego is attached to a heart mourning Gerald Leon Washington, a California man who died in March at the age of 72. I traced the photo with my finger.
“The people who wrote it loved him very much,” she said.
Around her, unmarked hearts awaited a new name.
As the death toll rises, it will rise even more.
white ribbon
A memorial space was also found in the fence of St. James Presbyterian Church in Bedfordview, a suburb of Johannesburg. In early 2020, the caretaker began tying white satin ribbons to the fence for those who died of his Covid-19.
By June 25, 2020, nearly three months after Covid-19 was declared a pandemic, Tie the 2,205th ribbonBy December, was 23,827.
In January 2021, when South Africa had the highest average death toll, the church announced it would tie a ribbon for every 10 deaths.
More than 102,000 people have died from Covid-19 in South Africa, according to the latest figures, but the rate is slowing. In early July, the fence had 46,200 of his ribbons tied, Gavin Locke said.
Families “suffered great trauma from not being able to visit loved ones in the hospital, not being able to see the deceased, and in some cases not being able to follow customary rituals,” he said.
white flag
In Washington, DC, over 700,000 white flags (one for each person who died of Covid) have been planted on 20 acres of state land. From September 17, 2021 to his October 3, mourners roamed the rustling fields, writing messages and names. to the flag.
“I miss you every day, baby,” a woman whispered while holding a flag, in a moment captured in a documentary published by The New York Times.
By May 12th of this year, the number of deaths in the United States will be reached 1 millionPresident Biden ordered flags to be flown at half-mast for four days in the White House and public areas.
The white flag keeps going up.
Suzanne Brennan Firstberg, the artist behind the installation, said:In America: RememberA new flag memorial is planned in October in New Mexico. thousands of trees were planted.
“What we are seeing is this push to handle it at the state and local level because no one is seeing what is happening at the national level,” said Furstenberg.
“Planes are still crashing,” she said. “And somehow not acknowledging that the pain is still there is very hurtful for the family.”
