Archival of Emotions
Archival of Emotions
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A Personal Archive made during Covid-19 Pandemic
What would you want people to know 100 years from now about this pandemic?
Honestly, I don't regard my thoughts and amateur journal entries as a genuine and unbiased window into the pandemic. To create this archive, I have used my journal entries, sketches, photographs and ruminations from March 2020 to June 2021. Some of these visuals have not been shared on any personal platform. I aim to make sense of self through this archive.
26th Mar, 2020 : "Will somebody find this journal after 1000 years? What would they think?" I guess we will know after ten centuries (if this archive survives)
FACES AND LACK THEREOF
FACES AND LACK THEREOF
What happened is, we grew lonely,
living among the things,
so we gave the clock a face,
the chair a back,
the table four stout legs
which will never suffer fatigue. "
// 'Things' by Lisel Mueller
The lockdown brought with it the internal push and pull of being alone vs. surrounded by people (digitally or otherwise). The disconnect was inherent in both cases. Virtually, the absence of significant physical senses overtook and in the presence of a remote company, the brain seemed to wander in far off places. What happens when suddenly you stop seeing a familiar face? We find comfort in faces. We find similarities and connections.
25th Mar, 2020 (day 1 of 21 days lock-down in India) : This is the first intuitive doodle. The faces are derivative of people from home, campus, TV series and vivid dreams. "People in my head do not follow the rules of social distancing." Social distancing was the new term in March 2020.
20th Aug, 2020 : "Kaun hain yeh log? Kahan se aate hain yeh log" Who are these people? Where do they come from? Faces now did not seem familiar, they were getting darker and more emotive as the days progressed.
10th Jan, 2021 : "Lurking shadows of my own thoughts"
Initially the faces were recognizable, but gradually the semblance started fading. "Continuity" as a concept seemed to emerge. Does the continuity express connection? Human connection?
April, 2021 :
Self-Reflection, Literally!
Self-Reflection, Literally!
An exercise that just started as an intuitive exercise, soon helped me gauge my own emotions during the pandemic. It was an attempt at encapsulating the essence of me. Somedays I was able to capture the eyes, a few days the hair, often only the spirit and occasionally nothing at all. And that is exactly how I felt during the lockdown, some days myself and other days nothing like the person I have come to know as 'me'.
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CONNECTION-DISCONNECTION: PARALLELS
CONNECTION-DISCONNECTION: PARALLELS
Drawing parallels to me is a comforting exercise. The process is highly intuitive. This also acts as a format to let the archive reflect the public experience during the pandemic. What can one image trigger? How differently does everybody perceive the same image?
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