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Writer's pictureARTE.M

Freedom in art, is it an opportunity to express different opinions? Or not?

Updated: Jul 23, 2021

It is our happiness to live in Madeira and see new examples of art. On Monday 19.07.2021, another monument appeared in Funchal, addressed to the doctors who help us live. Our association is international, with us today are the inhabitants of the island and foreigners and artists and just young active people. And we are happy that our opinions about this new monument are different and we can express them without fear of being blocked or cursed. Art knows no borders or languages.


É uma felicidade viver na Madeira e ver novos exemplos de arte. Segunda-feira 19.07.2021, apareceu no Funchal mais um monumento, dirigido aos médicos que nos ajudam a viver. A nossa associação é internacional, connosco hoje estão os habitantes da ilha e os estrangeiros e artistas e apenas jovens activos. E estamos felizes que nossas opiniões sobre este novo monumento sejam diferentes e possamos expressá-las sem medo de sermos bloqueados ou amaldiçoados. A arte não conhece fronteiras ou linguagens.






When I entered the monument called um abraço, I did not feel embraced but rather isolated. The statue reminds me of plague columns that were formed all over Europe in connection with the plague epidemic in the Baroque period.

Když jsem vstoupila do monumentu, který má název A hug necítila jsem obejmutí, ale spíše izolaci. Socha mi připomíná morové sloupy, které vznikaly po celé evropě v návaznosti na morovou epidemii v období baroka.


Tereza , volunteer from the Czech Republic

I came to this monument with no expectations and no formerly obtained information. Perhaps I was just grumpy from the heat, but at a first look, it really seemed like nothing more than "Yet Another Tourist Attraction To Take Pictures On - Ft. the Funding by Rich Guys Bored With Our Tax Money, Pretending To Help Artists".

When I read the embezzled pretty golden plaque beside whatever this stone thing was, I was even more confused. I had to turn many gears in my fried brain to try to understand how this was related to the pandemic or its health professionals.

After some thinking, I suppose it looks like an MRI machine. Or rather, a resistant stone shield that envelops you all around… And isolates you not only from the things that can hurt and kill you, but also the possibly good things.

A protective golden shield, or a suffocating obligatory one you have to carry everyday?


Eu vim até este monumento sem expectativas e sem informações previamente obtidas. Talvez estivesse apenas de mau humor por causa do calor, porque ao primeiro olhar, parecia-me mais nada do que "Mais Uma Atração Para Turistas Tirarem Fotos - Mais os Fundos de Gente Rica Aborrecidos Com o Nosso Dinheiro de Impostos, Fingindo Importarem-se Com Artistas".

Quando li a placa lindinha dourada enfeitada ao lado do que qualquer que seja esta coisa de pedra, fiquei ainda mais confuso. Tive que deitar bastante carvão aos meus neurónios queimados no meu cérebro para tentar perceber como é que isto é relacionado à pandemia ou aos profissionais de saúde.

Após alguma ponderação, suponho que parece uma máquina de ressonância magnética. Ou melhor, um escudo de pedra resistente que envolve-nos em todos os lados… E que nos isola não só apenas das coisas que nos podem magoar e matar, como também das coisas possivelmente boas.

Um escudo de ouro, ou um obrigatório que têm de carregar consigo todos os dias?

Maria , portuguese volunteer




In November last year, I got sick with coronavirus. It was a challenge for me both physically and mentally. To live in constant fear that the disease can win and you will find yourself in the statistics of the dead - follows you every minute.

In my opinion, the new sculpture like a symbol of the embrace of help during the period of illness. Thick walls don`t let light through and seem to squeeze from all sides. This is how I felt when I was sick. The sculpture is dark on the outside like a feeling of fear, inside it is golden and shines like a hope for healing. There is a certainty that they will save you, because there is a narrow exit to the new world of post-coronavirus ahead.

I felt all the sensations that I experienced during that difficult period of my life. The coronavirus is exhausting, only the light of hope and faith that you keep inside helps to cope with the hopeless walls of the cage. В Ноябре прошлого года я переболела коронавирусом. Это стало для меня испытанием как физически, так и морально. Жить в постоянном страхе, что болезнь может победить и ты окажешься в статистике погибших – сопутствует на протяжении всего времени.

Для меня новая скульптура показалась символом объятий помощи в период болезни. Толстые стены не пропускают свет и словно сжимают со всех сторон. Так я чувствовала себя, когда болела. Скульптура снаружи тёмная как чувство страха, внутри золотая и светиться – словно надежда исцеления. Появляется уверенность, что тебя спасут, ведь впереди виден узкий выход в новый мир посткоронавируса.

Я снова пережила все ощущения, какие испытала в тот сложный период жизни. Коронавирус изматывает, только свет надежды и веры, который ты сохраняешь внутри помогает справиться с беспросветными стенами клетки.

Elisabeth, volunteer from Ukraine




I found the sculpture to be amazing and elegant, a beautiful tribute to all the doctors and nurses who spent difficult months saving countless lives from the corana virus. In the sculpture, it is written "here as arms close / how the heart is hidden" by José Agostinho Batista, this phrase helped me interpret the sculpture, the bronze arch on the outside reminded me of a hug to protect that precious message, wrapped in that golden wall, in that "golden heart", and in the conditions we live in today it is really necessary for professionals of health having a heart of gold, people so fundamental to our health and well-being


Achei a escultura espetacular e elegante, uma bonita homenagem a todos os medicos e enfermeiros que passaram meses dificeis, salvando enumeras vidas do corana virus, na escultura encontra se escrito "eis como se fecham os braços/ como se esconde o coração" de José Agostinho Batista, esta frase ajudou me


Catarina , portuguese volunteer




I personally like the new art installation created next to the regional assembly of Madeira. I think that it's style is similar to the architecture of the assembly building, creating an interesting visual connection between them. Addictionally its decoration is simple but right on point, similar to other monuments dedicated to memory when people enter and reflect about what happened. Nurses and doctors clearly deserve to be remembered as much as other important people of the past, so I believe that creating a monument for them next to one of the most important building of Funchal is a great idea.


Steven Gheno volunteer from Italy


"... mais um vazio monumento ao patrimônio político para a elite se felicitar ... O minimalismo nunca foi recebido com um coração caloroso pelo público que paga impostos. No entanto, teria um aspecto maravilhoso e seria apreciado no relvado de uma quinta majestosa - o seu cenário natural."


"I think a discussion on the merits and weaknesses of public art could be of value, to include political patrimony and its role in the modern day... it might be interesting to make use of this public dispute as a theme to gather an interesting event...."





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