A Living Tribute in the City Hardest Hit by the First Wave of the Pandemic
The Italian city of Bergamo, which bore the brunt of COVID-19’s first deadly wave, is honoring its pandemic victims with a striking memorial: a grove of trees that will help generate oxygen, planted in a park across from the hospital where so many tragically passed away, unable to breathe.
Bergamo, located in northern Italy, joins countless communities worldwide that are creating memorials to commemorate those lost in a pandemic that is now nearing the grim milestone of 5 million confirmed deaths globally.
While some memorials have been designed by artists or proposed by civic groups, others have emerged organically as symbols of grief and frustration. The task of creating collective memorials is complex, as the pandemic is not yet over and new deaths continue to be mourned.
Across the world, simple objects like memorial flags, ribbons, and hearts have come to symbolize the victims of the virus. These visual tributes have appeared in places from London to Washington D.C., and from Brazil to South Africa.
In the U.S., the collective impact of over 740,000 white flags covering 20 acres on the National Mall was nothing short of staggering, each flag representing a life lost to the virus—the highest official death toll in the world.
