I left the house early this morning to take Camillo to the bus station. He is making another trip to Macae and I, well I selfishly didn’t want to go. I just got back here and wanted to stay put. After dropping him off, I drove on into Nova Friburgo and parked at the Praça do Suspiro. This is on the opposite side of downtown from my gym class but I wanted to show you some of the progress that has been made since the January 2011 mudslides. I had taken photos before and to tell the truth couldn’t find them in my archives. I have been doing and awful job of keeping up with things.
I found among the large signs touting the engineers, and planners, and the declarations of how much money was being spent trying to stabilize this area of town, a new monument to those nearly 1000 victims, in Nova Friburgo alone, that lost their lives in the early morning hours of January 12, 2011. There have been improvements, you can’t imagine how bad it was (See the Feb. 2, 2011 post) nor how complicated it must be to try and fix this area. But this monument gave me a feeling of hope, a large lump formed in my chest and has not gone away.
A city remembering that night and its losses before all can be covered up and forgotten.
Ginger, is that two sides of the same sculpture? One depicting the devastation, the other arising from it? I find one side scarey, the other uplifting!
ReplyDeleteyes exactly. the monument is quite new, maybe as the grass grows around it and all the other mud and construction disappears it will be even more beautiful.
DeleteA tought-evoking and interesting monument, if it does inspire hope then it is doing "its job" it seems...
ReplyDeleteWow, sad. The monument does speak to you once you know the story behind it.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this. I remember your pictures and the events vividly and to see this sculpture was gripping.
ReplyDeleteThankgood for spotlight photos. I missed this the other day but this post is amazing. I remember when that happened. Get to get an update.
ReplyDeleteQMM