How artists remind the world of the victims of the pandemic: a field of white flags and a giant patchwork quilt

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The pandemic has claimed millions of lives, and the fight against Covid-19 is like a war. Artists all over the world are trying to express this sorrow through their art. Installations in memory of the victims of a large-scale epidemic began to appear in different parts of the planet. However, such actions are dedicated not only to those who died from coronavirus infection. Do not forget that every day hundreds of people die from AIDS and other terrible diseases, and this also does not leave indifferent artists.

Tens of thousands of white flags

There are over 160,000 small white flags on a white field, each representing a person who has died from Covid-19. The flags are erected on the grassy parade ground of the Washington DC Armory.

The installation appeared here at the end of October, and every day this field was replenished with new flags - as the death rate from coronavirus increased.

“Look at this flag,” says the author of the project, artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg. “Now think about a schoolteacher whose life has just ended. Everyone was shocked by her death: her family, students, neighbors, colleagues and paramedics who tried to save her. Try to keep in yourself and realize all this sorrow, and then look at tens of thousands of other flags and multiply it.

To date, more than 263,000 people have died from Covid-19 in the United States, although the true number of deaths could be much higher due to missed diagnoses, deaths associated with the virus only indirectly, and other classification errors. As the death toll becomes more difficult to comprehend, creative people in the US and around the world, including artists like Firstenberg, are doing their best to visualize these statistics and create a space for mourning.

Small flags have filled an area of three and a half acres to date. The installation will run here until November 30, but who knows - maybe the exhibition will be extended.

- People needed to have a place where they could come so that, if not physically, but at least emotionally, they feel that their loved one is recognized as a victim of a pandemic and his life is valuable.

Calvin Washington, an ordinary passer-by, saw this installation a few weeks ago on his way to work at the city's Department of General Services. Since then, he has stopped here almost every day to add a few more flags and pray for those who have died - including some of his military friends. And kneels down.

“This is my way of saying to a deceased comrade:“We miss you. We will still live, but you are not forgotten,”he explains.

Nearby is a small patch of 25 flags, one for each person who has died from Covid-19 in New Zealand. The country is known for stopping the spread of the virus early in the pandemic with tough lockdown measures.

Other memorials

Memorial projects such as the Flag Field in Washington State take place across the country in the United States. For example, throughout April, a Vietnam veteran in California played Taps (the famous tune played by the horn at a US military funeral) every day to honor those who died. And in May, people from all over the country read the names of Covid-19 victims live on YouTube for 24 hours straight.

A memorial disc of nine hundred photographs was uploaded in Detroit in August. On them - 1,500 townspeople who have died from the virus since the beginning of the pandemic.

And in California, 13-year-old Madeleine Fugate created a giant memorial blanket in memory of those who died of AIDS. This work of folk art, numbering more than 48,000 panels, is intended to remind one hundred thousand of those who died from the complications of this terrible disease.

People from all over the country sent Fugate fragments for a patchwork quilt, and she ended up with over one hundred eight-by-eight-inch pieces of cloth dedicated to people who had died from the virus. But one of them especially does not come out of her head: it is a simple white square with a photograph of a young girl. It was handed over by a woman who wanted to perpetuate the memory of her daughter Anna, the same age as Madeleine Fugate.

- I am 13 years old, and many of my friends too. When I hear about someone my age who died from the virus, it's really sad. This is a reminder that anyone can catch a deadly virus, says Madeleine.

In the future, the author of the installation hopes to make another project: to collect one square from each person who died from Covid-19, and then divide the blanket and distribute the fragments to people around the world.

“If we forget about all these people who died, it’s like we are losing a little of our humanity,” the girl says. - When you see these squares and hold them in your hands, you understand how much these people meant to their relatives - those who sent these pieces of fabric.

Artist Firstenberg also made a memorial to the victims of the coronavirus. Her little white flags have their names written in black felt-tip pen. They are written by the relatives of the dead. Some of them also show the date of death and a brief biography.

The pandemic claimed the lives of not only ordinary people, but also outstanding scientists, musicians, artists, architects. We suggest reading about What mark the Italian Vittorio Gregotti left in the world architecture, who died from coronavirus.