Memorials for Covid-19 victims a useful reminder
THE WEBINAR was also attended by medical students and faculty members from ESIC Medical College.
Memorials for countless and unnamed Covid-19 victims, while few and far between, can serve the purpose of reminding people of the trauma induced by the pandemic, and can be motivating for others to move on with confidence while at the same time being cautious when it comes to their own and public health issues, an international webinar on
“Covid-19 Memories and Memorials with Luytens” on Saturday concluded. The event, organised by the ESIC Medical College Hospital and Super Speciality Hospital, featured noted British-US multidisciplinary artist Marcos Lutyens, from the family of Sir Edwin Lutyens, the architect and designer of New Delhi. Among others who took part in the webinar were Prof. Srinivas M., dean, ESIC Medical College; Lord Rami Ranger, CBE of Mayfair, and Manish Uprety, FRAS, special advisor, ALCAP, the Latin American Parliamentary Association of AudioVisual Communication from Paraguay.
The webinar was attended by medical students and faculty members from ESIC Medical College, where issues related to Covid -19 and various innovations that could be adopted to prevent future waves of the pandemic were also discussed.
The webinar was also the platform for the panelists to share their global experiences to develop holistic and effective strategies to address the challenges faced in the protection of memorials from the contemporary socio-cultural and political conditions.
One of the issues that was discussed was whether memorialisation can sufficiently make up for the losses or re-traumatise survivors of the pandemic, Prof. Srinivas said. The view that emerged, he said, was that memorials served an important purpose, as reminders of what had been, and how struggles were overcome. Lutyens, and Ranger, and others emphasised that had we not had memorials for Mahatma Gandhi and other great leaders, there would have been a serious gap in inspiring others to follow the great ideals, and the nation building that such leaders lived for,” Prof. Srinivas said.