Art tribute to those lost from Covid-19
A tribute to the lives taken by Covid-19 has been erected in the dunes of Waitarere Beach.
Artist Jay Martin, who goes by the moniker 4jl, has spent the past eight months creating his installation, which includes a painting, poems and flower arrangements.
Martin has been in New Zealand for 17 years, but his family remains in Quebec, Canada, where more than 8000 people have died.
He said it had been a strange time and wanted to honour everyone who had been affected by the pandemic.
The memorial had been on the sand dunes since New Year’s Eve and was built to survive both sun and rain.
He wrote the poem first, which inspired him to start the painting during lockdown. ‘‘I did it for compassion for all the people around the world every day being put in the ground, and people dying with no loved ones around.
‘‘A little bit of love and goodness in a time of a lot of chaos.’’
On New Year’s Day, Martin checked the installation to make sure it was surviving the elements, and saw a woman walk over to look at it.
She turned to him, unaware it was his work, and said ‘‘it’s beautiful isn’t it?’’.
‘‘That was the whole point, for people to see it and feel it. That moment meant the world tome,’’ Martin said.
He said people had experienced losing their jobs and not being able to see their family, so it connected to everyone in different ways. ‘‘We’ve all felt it.’’
He plans to take the memorial to the Auckland waterfront on March 25, signifying the day New Zealand went into lockdown in 2020.
‘‘I just think it’s a nice way to pay respects. It’s something that everyone understands, at a time when we are still not sure what is going on.
‘‘It can touch people in different ways.’’