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This photograph shows a detail of a wall of tributes written in the wake of the attacks on the Masjid Al Noor Mosque and the Linwood Islamic Centre in Christchurch by a heavily armed white supremacist during Friday prayer on 15 March 2019, killing 51 people and wounding 40 more (the last victim died in Christchurch Hospital on 2 May). The victims ranged from three years old to 78.
There was an instant outpouring of grief and outrage online and in streets throughout New Zealand and around the world, from hastily scrawled graffiti to delicate artworks.
Students and staff of Victoria University in Wellington immediately made use of a wall that was part of a temporary building project in the heart of the Kelburn campus. Within days, thousands of individual messages and images were written in chalk on the wall, expressing love, compassion, solidarity and condemning racism and the attacks. The wall also became a gathering point and a place of solace during the difficult weeks after the attacks.
Such public images and messaging are often seen in the wake of mass violence. They are touching and provide comfort, but are temporary. The work of addressing and challenging racism, Islamophobia and white supremacy continues.