Several artists have teamed up to create a fresco in Ixelles in tribute to the nursing staff. Workers largely involved in recent months, with the covid crisis. The giant work faces a hospital and will be finished in a few days.
The fresco measures over 10 meters high and describes the unprecedented crisis situation due to the spread of the coronavirus. The nursing staff is represented there full of strength and determination. Tired, but standing. “It’s nice, says Carine, an employee who has worked in the hospital kitchen for 31 years. We are not forgotten. We are part of the system of course. “
Locals, passers-by and tourists stop for a few moments to contemplate the work and think of those we present today as the heroes of the shadows. “It reflects everything that we went through for three months and that we felt”, estimates a passerby. “You have to be thankful to them”, encourages a young adolescent.
The creator of the drawing is Amandine Lesay. The work required more than 100 hours of work and 3 weeks of preparation. “It was an untapped wall in front of the hospital, explains the artistic director and creator of the fresco. We wanted to do something to thank the hospital staff. It went pretty quickly, it was obvious. “
“It is important and comforting for them and for us too, says Guillaume Desmarets, painter within the Farm Prod collective. It’s our way of saying thank you. “
Tonight, the work is gradually ending. Aurélie adds balloons to the fresco. They were not planned but current events wanted otherwise. A 48-year-old nurse, mother of three, died this week of the covid. “It’s a little strange, says the painter Aurélie Edwige Léger. It feels like people are still going through this every day, [et que d’autres moins]. There is emotion for this lady who left recently, it’s on “.
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