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2021-10-23
The screenshot for a post lockdown birthday shows the enthusiasm for reopening and recommencing social life, but is tempered by the restrictions still in place.
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2021-08-30
The 'Mir Kumen On' Yiddish Choir, affiliated with the Jewish Labour Bund Melbourne, migrated to Zoom at the beginning of the pandemic and returned there at each lockdown and, depending on the how restrictions affected singing indoors, during non-lockdown periods.
Holding choir sessions over the internet isn't easy, for example, participants are required to be on mute during songs so that there isn't lag, overlap, and interruption issues. Therefore while singing, one can only hear the pianist, Tomi Kalinski, who runs the sessions.
But it's still an absolutely enjoyable time, seeing everyone and singing the soulful Yiddish songs, even if it's only to yourself. There have been some benefits too: with the online platform, Yiddish lovers from around the world have been able to join our little Melbourne choir, including from France and Scotland.
The weekly zoom choir sessions have definitely lightened some of the darkest periods of my lockdown experience.
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2021-10-29
During the lockdowns and COVID restrictions in Melbourne, Jewish communities found ways to connect. Especially important are the Friday evening services for Shabbat. Kehilat Kolenu, a Humanistic Jewish organisation held zoom meetings in place of their usual Kabbalat Shabbat services. Especially during the loneliest, most isolating periods in my lockdown experience, these zoom meetings where I could hear the songs of my culture helped me feel spiritually and socially reconnected.
HIST30060
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2021-11-01
My story happened precisely a month after our national lockdown in Saudi Arabia, which was in March 2020,
at that time I was applying for a scholarship to continue my higher education degree anywhere in the West, either in The UK or The United States, so my dream began to almost vanish after applying for one of the UK universities and they asked for an IELTS score, though I told them IELTS centers were shut down in Saudi Arabia at that time, unfortunately, they just assumed I had no other alternative rather than sticking with that condition! no exceptions! no mercy in another word you could say! though I have provided them with a very recent IELTS score very close to the overall score they asked for, I even begged them and asked them for any alternative test they could provide me since I explained to them the situation that no IELTS / TOFEL venues were open! , they just put me down and made me search for another option, which was Pitt one of the top PA or even nationwide universities to provide with accredited graduate Master of Library and Information Science.
luckily when I applied they pre-accepted my application and they gave me an option which I never thought about it as a way of such a good university as Pitt would accept it, since that kind of online test was newly launched.
so I fought a lot to get that offer letter to provide it to the scholarship provider as I had little hope to meet that condition of having the offer letter on that particular short notice deadline and the very deadly period of the peak of the global disaster of covid19.
I THANK YOU VERY MUCH FROM THE DEPTH OF MY HEART,
1- PITT ADMISSIONS STAFF FOR PROVIDING ME THAT ALTERNATIVE OPTION OF PROVIDING THEM WITH AN ACCEPTABLE ONLINE ENGLISH TEST.
2- DUOLINGO FOR BEING THERE FOR US AT THAT HARD TIME!
3-MY SCHOLARSHIP PROVIDER FOR ALLOWING ME TO CONTINUE MY FURTHER STUDIES IN ONE OF THE TOP UNIVERSITIES OF THE UNITED STATES.
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2021-09-30
In the wake of the anti-lockdown riots that gripped Melbourne in September 2021, the Campaign Against Fascism movement disseminated the phrase Pro-Vax, Pro-Union, Anti-Fascist.
Inspired by this, Link/לינק, a zine associated with the Jewish Labour Bund in Melbourne, posted a poster to their Instagram account, of their take on this messaging, including the shouting man from early twentieth-century Bund posters.
The poster was also physically published in the zine's second edition in October 2021.
HIST30060
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2021-11-01
"Be a Mench, Wear a Mask." Sounds like a Jewish superhero slogan!
This poster, using the Yiddish word 'mench' or 'mentsh,' "a person of integrity and honor," published in the Australian Jewish News has been cut out and stuck onto the door of the Jewish Studies (ייִדישע שטודיעס) office, alongside a sign expressing the limit of people inside the room.
There has been unclear government mandates on mask wearing inside schools, mainly when it comes to standing at the head of a classroom, but this poster has reminded all walking past the JS office of the mask's importance throughout the pandemic.
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2021-11-01
Melbourne's state of rolling lockdowns through the second half of 2021 played havoc with the performing arts industry. 'Durkh A Modnem Gloz' ('Through A Strange Lens'), staged by the Kadimah Jewish Cultural Centre in Elsternwick, a Yiddish cabaret performed by Galit Klas (with English translation surtitles created and operated by me) was an event that had to be rescheduled multiple times.
As seen in the first image, the original performance dates were listed June 23-27, but was postponed to July 21-25 due to insufficient rehearsal time, thanks to the lockdown ending 10th June. With a new lockdown coming into effect on Thursday 15th of July, new dates were again required. In the Facebook post on the 21st of July (screenshotted and posted here), the Kadimah Jewish Cultural Centre officially announced the postponement. These new dates were set for August 4-8, but the opening night was the only show performed as Lockdown 6 was announced and came into effect on Thursday 5th. Now with that lockdown finally over, will ‘Durkh A Modne Gloz’ finally get the full season it deserves?
(Uploaded as a part of my university studies: HIST30060)
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2021-10-13
Pictured here is the 2021 Ormond College Scholar’s Dinner. This event has a long history at the College as a celebration of academic excellence. Yet in 2021 it looked a little different than in previous years. In this image you can see the hallmarks of the COVID-19 pandemic – mask wearing, seated social distancing and individual, single serve drinks. Nevertheless, many of the rich traditions of the College can still be seen – a formal hall, the use of the original dining hall and the wearing of academic gowns. There is both continuity and change within this image. In this, it gives insight into a tension felt by many during the pandemic – the desire to hold onto the past, but the need to be adaptive.
HIST30060
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2021-08-19
Pictured here is the Melbourne Royal Exhibition Building during its time as a COVID-19 Vaccination Centre. This building has had a plethora of purposes throughout its history. For me, it was once my university exam hall, and now in August 2021 it was the site of my first Pfizer COVID-19 vaccination. In this, one is given a glimpse into the transformations that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to life in Melbourne. The city itself still exists, almost entirely unchanged, but the way we live our lives within it has been radically re-shaped by this pandemic.
HIST30060
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2021-01-19
Pictured here is my Victorian border entry permit, issued in January 2021. At this time, due to Australian state and territory border closures, all people entering the state of Victoria were required to hold a government-issued border entry permit. To be eligible for this permit, one had to have spent the previous fourteen days in a so-called ‘green zone’, that is, an area deemed by the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services to be of low COVID risk. Embodied then within this permit is the impact of COVID-19 on the daily lives of Australians. While once able to freely travel, government permission was now required for movement across state and territory borders. These restrictions placed immense financial and emotional strain on many Australians throughout 2020 and 2021, including myself.
Note: For privacy reasons, personal information has been redacted from this document
HIST30060
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2021-01-02
This here is the journal entry I wrote on my first night in 14-day mandatory hotel quarantine at the Northern Territory’s Howard Springs Quarantine Facility in January 2021. At this time, in an effort to control the spread of covid, movement between many Australian states and territories required mandatory hotel quarantine upon arrival. For many, including myself, this process was filled with anxiety and uncertainty. Yet simultaneously, a sense of excitement and adventure. This journal entry gives insight into the complexities of emotions associated with the Australian Covid-19 Hotel Quarantine System.
HIST30060
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2021-11-01
This is a beautiful contraption that sprung up on my street during the lockdowns in Naarm/Melbourne. It’s also a startling localised act of care, likely by a child, and it gave me lots of joy walking past it to the shops everyday.
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2021-07-06
The local basketball courts near my house were closed due to risk of contamination with COVID-19, much to the dismay of my sweet young neighbours.
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2021-06-01
During the lockdowns in Naarm/Melbourne I was lucky enough to have access to a lot of musical instruments through my partner, who is a musician. I channelled a lot of my fear and worry into learning to play piano again, I had learnt as a child. I found this incredibly rewarding. It carried me through. Here’s me masked up with my portable synthesiser.
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2021-10-03
I am a radio presenter and producer and during the lockdowns in Naarm/Melbourne I had to learn how to remote record and broadcast my content. I found myself hushing my housemates in order to record hour-long content from my headphone mic, very solo and DIY. It felt good to be part of a greater community project, broadcasting punk, DIY, and political chat to our regular listeners through the lockdowns.
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2021-09-08
I found this chalk slogan on the road hilariously neo-liberal. Absolutely, greed sucks - the way COVID-19 exacerbated wealth inequalities and ravaged communities disproportionately (due to lack of resources/access and over-policing) sucks. Yet, this chalked slogan was a simplification (or even armchair activist representation) of that reality and this made me chuckle.
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2021-10-31
Health officials are pushing residents to get booster shots as state data shows about 50% of the recorded COVID deaths in Illinois last week were cases where people were fully vaccinated.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) reported there were 179 COVID-19 deaths from October 20 to October 27.
From the same reporting period of October 20-27, there were 91 breakthrough cases, IDPH data shows.
A breakthrough case is when a person tests positive for COVID-19 at least 14 days after being fully vaccinated and did not test positive in the previous 45 days, according to IDPH.
87% of all breakthrough COVID-19 deaths in Illinois have been in the 65+ age group.
Illinois Department of Public Health spokeswoman Melaney Arnold told Lake and McHenry County Scanner that COVID-19 vaccines “continue to be highly effective at preventing death due to COVID-19.”
[Suggested Article] Illinois attorney general, 51 other attorneys general call on Congress to protect children on Facebook, Instagram
“Of the more than 7 million people in Illinois who are fully vaccinated, breakthrough deaths have occurred in 0.01% of the population,” Arnold said.
Arnold noted that not all breakthrough deaths reported from October 20 to October 27 actually occurred in that span.
“It takes time (days to weeks) to match death records with vaccination records; therefore; there can be a lag in when the death occurred and when it is reported as a breakthrough death,” she said.
Still, the reporting week from October 20 to October 27 had the highest percent of breakthrough deaths compared to non-breakthrough deaths since the state began publishing the data back in April.
Currently, Illinois residents 65 or older, anyone 18+ with underlying medical conditions or who work or live in high-risk settings, such as educators and first responders, are eligible to receive a booster shot of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
Those who received the Johnson and Johnson vaccine are able to get any COVID-19 vaccine as their booster shot, the CDC says.
“We know that advanced age is a significant factor in COVID-19 breakthrough hospitalizations and deaths, but a booster dose can help provide continued protection,” IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said earlier this month.
“While COVID-19 vaccines continue to be effective in reducing the risk of severe disease, hospitalization, and death, scientists and medical experts continue to watch for signs of waning immunity, how well the vaccines protect against variants, and how that data differs across age groups and risk factors,” Ezike said.
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2021-09-07
COVID-19 vaccines are effective at preventing infection, serious illness, and death. Most people who get COVID-19 are unvaccinated. However, since vaccines are not 100% effective at preventing infection, some people who are fully vaccinated will still get COVID-19. An infection of a fully vaccinated person is referred to as a “vaccine breakthrough infection.”
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2021-07-08
A blog post from Banner Health about relationships with partners and spouses during Covid-19.
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2020-07-09
A blog post from Banner Health about post-partum depression during Covid-19.
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2021-08-10
During the 6th Victorian lockdown in August 2021, my family decided to do some cleaning of our old children’s books to pass the time. My mum decided to set up this little ‘lockdown library’ to give the books out for free to good homes, in hopes of helping kids who are stuck at home stay busy during the lockdown and online schooling. As they cleaned, they also found some adult books to give away as well, in hopes that it would help provide not only entertainment, but a reminder of human kindness and the fact that we are all in this together.
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2021-08-06
The 2021 Census fell on August 10th, during the 6th lockdown. This Mark Knight comic published in the Herald Sun on August 12th is a comedic take on the questions Victorians were truly thinking about. I thought the QR code with Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews was particularly clever, as the use of QR codes to scan into everywhere we visit has become a quintessential part of our everyday routines. The questions themselves are funny, with the Aussie slang ‘yeh, nah’ being the options for each one. Asking things such as if you have been out of your trackies or house that day are clever questions, because they reflect a universal experience that almost all Victorians could relate to in one way or another.
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2021-06-20
This comic drawn by Mark Knight, is a satirical cartoon commenting on Victoria’s requirements to obtain a negative Covid test result prior to entering the Alpine Regions, as the mountains prepared to welcome guests back to their slopes. I came across this cartoon the day it was posted in the Herald Sun, as I was packing my bags to leave for Mount Hotham early the next morning. When entering the resort and prior to driving up the mountain, there was staff in Fluro vests checking everyone had an SMS indicating their negative test result. I found it interesting that this short, 10 second process was the only one in place to keep the Alpine Regions safe from Covid. On the mountain, there was a testing site which never seemed to have any visitors, as well as Covid marshals in Hotham Central (the main building) checking to make sure everyone was wearing a mask, or face covering at all time. Due to the nature of the resort, it felt as if Covid was a thing of the past, with hospitality open, dance floors, retail shops and no social distancing on chair lifts or in accommodation.
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2021-06-20
This comic drawn by Mark Knight, is a satirical cartoon commenting on Victoria’s requirements to obtain a negative Covid test result prior to entering the Alpine Regions, as the mountains prepared to welcome guests back to their slopes. I came across this cartoon the day it was posted in the Herald Sun, as I was packing my bags to leave for Mount Hotham early the next morning. When entering the resort and prior to driving up the mountain, there was staff in Fluro vests checking everyone had an SMS indicating their negative test result. I found it interesting that this short, 10 second process was the only one in place to keep the Alpine Regions safe from Covid. On the mountain, there was a testing site which never seemed to have any visitors, as well as Covid marshals in Hotham Central (the main building) checking to make sure everyone was wearing a mask, or face covering at all time. Due to the nature of the resort, it felt as if Covid was a thing of the past, with hospitality open, dance floors, retail shops and no social distancing on chair lifts or in accommodation.
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2020-03-21
In March 2020 during the first covid-19 lockdown, we heard a lot about toilet paper shortages, queues and fights for it at supermarkets. What surprised me to see on a walk around Brunswick was a substantial queue at a local bakery. It was also one of the first social distanced queues I had seen and certainly the first I had taken a photo of. It summed up the new state of affairs to me, while reminding me of the importance that bread holds in our diets. In some ways I was relieved to see a queue for it rather than something more trivial such as toilet paper. The fact it was a local bakery highlighted to me the importance that people in Brunswick place on locally made produce. This also reminded me of the historical importance of bread, for instance the riots that occurred when bread and flour prices increased in France in the late 1780s or Lenin's promise to the Russian people of 'Peace, Bread, Land' in 1917. To me this photo captured how despite circumstances changing immensely, the importance of accessing staple foods remains more or less constant.
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2021-10-21
This photo is a picture of the sticker that the doctors would give out once you got your vaccine shot. My doctor peeled off the sticker and handed it to me, and I quickly put it on an old receipt in my bag because I wanted to keep it. Outside of the last few years, diseases often did not really play a role in 21st century Australia, but now the sticker shows how some people have a sense of pride around being vaccinated. My partners doctor placed the sticker directly onto his shirt, and he was quite happy to wear it the whole way home. In addition, the Victorian government logo on the bottom shows how the government is endorsing vaccinations for the public. HIST30060.
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2021-10-21
This photo shows the waiting area that the public was directed to after receiving their vaccine doses. When I was being walked over, my doctor told me to wait fifteen minutes, and if I felt ill during that time period I should sit on the floor and raise my hand. The chairs were stuck to the ground about six feet apart. There was a much larger section of chairs behind me, but I did not want to photograph anyone without their consent, even though everyone had masks on. Once your fifteen minutes were up, there was a desk at the front of the room with staff to double check that you felt alright as well as validating parking if needed. HIST30060.
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2021-10-21
This is a screenshot from my iPhone when I checked into the Melbourne Convention Centre for my second dose of the vaccine. Throughout the Convention Centre, there were several lines with staff directing where to check in, what lines to go into for various brands of the vaccine, as well as a more personal data like ID and Medicare cards. This screenshot shows one of the check points, where staff would direct you to sign in, wait patiently, and then once you showed them the green checkmark, would then allow you to move onwards. At the bottom of the screenshot, there is a prompt directing me to “get the full app” of Service Victoria on my phone, even though I already had it installed. HIST30060.
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2021-10-21
This is a picture of one of the QR codes inside the Melbourne Convention Centre that one had to sign in while getting their vaccine. Each person was directed to pull out their personal phone and sign in individually. There were 2 QR codes to sign into, with staff standing nearby to direct the public in what to do as well as double check the confirmation. The QR code outside of the centre would lead to a short survey, with questions such as “Do you have any symptoms of COVID?” or “Have you been to any of the latest COVID hotspots?” This QR code in particular is to confirm that the person has signed into the physical place of the Melbourne Convention Centre. HIST30060.
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2021-10-21
This is a picture of the outside of the Melbourne Convention Centre while crossing the Yarra, where I received my second dose of AstraZeneca COVID vaccine on 12:30pm October 21st, 2021. When I had received the first dose on August 27th, a line had wrapped around the building of at least a hundred people walking in to receive Pfizer. However, by this date, you can see by the photo that there were far fewer people waiting to receive their second dose. Even though I was half an hour early to my appointment, there were so few people that the staff waved me through without any problems. The whole time I was inside the convention centre, I probably saw only twenty people, excluding staff. HIST30060.
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2021
Some reflections on the pandemic from my experience working in a suburban supermarket in Melbourne. I share some general feelings about how COVID changed the environment within supermarkets, as well as several pandemic-related interactions with customers.
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2020-06-06
Due to the difficulty of making friends in person due to covid, I increasingly turned to online fandom spaces to find people with similar interests to me. The follow screenshot is from a tumblr group chat confirming the first international fan based Zoom call which I was part of in June 2020. CST refers to Central Standard Time, the timezone which encompasses countries of Central and parts of Eastern Europe. This was my first experience talking to people from overseas that shared similar interests to me on a video call. It lead to me join multiple groups across platforms such as discord to communicate further. It was the beginning of me gaining more international friends which have been a really important part of keeping an active social life during this pandemic. It was also an eye opening experience to hear first hand accounts of how people around the world were living through this global pandemic.
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2021-09-21
This video was taken on 21 September 2021, capturing the view of the Westgate Bridge from Williamstown, Melbourne, as anti-lockdown protestors fill several lanes and disrupt traffic. The footage shows smoke coming from the bridge and all traffic brought to a standstill. There were also helicopters hovering and police car lights joining the scene later on. I was on a walk with a friend along the Esplanade at the time this footage was taken. It felt quite scary to be seeing aggressive, violent attitudes manifest so close to home. We knew what was going because of news updates coming through our phones. After the initial shock and fear at witnessing this happening on a few kilometres away, my friend and I walked the rest of the way in silence, too appalled by the behaviour to do more than shake our heads in dismay.
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2020-05
This photo was taken in May 2020, when Melbourne restrictions prevented religious gatherings from taking place. I attend Westgate Baptist Community church in Yarraville in the western suburbs of Melbourne, and it had transitioned to zoom for its church services by this point. On the day this picture was taken, we were meant to organise our own bread and wine for the ritual of communion. It was strange to source these elements on our own and even stranger to just pass them to each other instead of being given them by the pastor. It probably took some sense of gravitas and 'specialness' out of the ritual. At the same time though, it was evident that in a very precarious, unprecedented time, this community was really hanging on to such rituals for some normalcy and comfort in a sense of the divine's presence. We would not be back to in-person services until February 2021.
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2020-05-03
This photo was taken in May 2020, when Melbourne restrictions prevented religious gatherings from taking place. I attend Westgate Baptist Community church in Yarraville in the western suburbs of Melbourne, and it had transitioned to zoom for its church services by this point. On the day this picture was taken, we were meant to organise our own bread and wine for the ritual of communion. It was strange to source these elements on our own and even stranger to just pass them to each other instead of being given them by the pastor. It probably took some sense of gravitas and 'specialness' out of the ritual. At the same time though, it was evident that in a very precarious, unprecedented time, this community was really hanging on to such rituals for some normalcy and comfort in a sense of the divine's presence. We would not be back to in-person services until February 2021.
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2020-09-18
This screenshot was taken during a zoom call with members of my Dad's side of the family in September 2020, during Victoria's third COVID lockdown. At this point, we hadn't seen each other since early June of that year, which was unusual - in normal times, we would gather in person at least once a month, but lockdown prevented social gatherings with anyone outside one's household. We were zooming in from 8 different locations and with competing voices, technical difficulties and zoom-illiterate older relatives, it wasn't quite the same experience as catching up in person. One thing we realised very quickly was that it was impossible to initiate more intimate, one-on-one conversations with people on zoom. Instead, each screen in the call got a chance to give an update and we missed the more personal conversations. It was also strange seeing families grouped together in this
virtual family gathering. In person, certain people in the family would naturally form groups based on age and gender and families wouldn't appear so much like a unit as in these calls. Although it was good to see people's faces again, I think we would all agree zoom calls are a poor substitute for the real deal.
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2021-10-31
HIST30060. How do you pass the time during a 5km radius lockdown with only four reasons to leave? Chess. After watching the Queens Gambit, my housemates and I spend a few hours a day playing multiple games of chess in person, or on Chess.com. Chess is a great way to pass the time because each game is unique. Every game has thousands of variables that allow alternative moves to ‘one-up’ your opponent. We started off with little no knowledge of the game but built our fundamentals through Youtube tutorials. This has increased a skills rapidly and allowed us to challenge people across the world using Chess.com. Online chess, in fact, is the most used online game in the world and continues to rapidly grow during the pandemic.
I like this image because it captures the way my housemates and I have been living whilst full-time students with limited time to earn income. Note the piece of ply we use as an outdoor table, sitting on chairs we found on the side of the road. We managed to furnish our whole house like this, which I think is impressive but really dingy.
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2020-07-10
These are screenshots of text messages sent from a supermarket manager to a group chat of service team members of a major Australian supermarket in Altona North, Melbourne. They detail the new cleaning regime that became part of the responsibilities of working in a supermarket during the pandemic. These include instructions about wiping down surfaces with sanitiser and keeping 1.5m distance from coworkers. These texts came a few days after Victoria's third lockdown was announced. I worked at the supermarket at the time and it was an extremely chaotic period, made more hectic by ever-changing restrictions and developments in COVID-safe practices. We would get texts like these quite frequently during this third lockdown because it was so important that supermarket essential workers kept abreast of COVID developments and worked to make supermarkets as safe as possible.
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2021-03-01
Despite not having been able to attend my university campus for the prior year and not being able to attend it in the coming year as a result of lockdown restrictions, I was still forced to pay an amenities fee to the university. This meant that I had restricted access to the amenities that I was still paying full price for. This combined with losing my job made the payment difficult to make.
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2020-04-20
After losing my job the prior month I attempted to find financial support through the Jobkeeper program that was being run by the Victorian Government at the time. Unfortunately as a result of being terminated the prior month as well as having a casual status at the job I was unable to receive support from the government or the company that I worked for. This meant that I was out of work and money for a period of 6 months in 2020 before finally being able to find another job.
Personal information relating to myself and the business have been marked out in order to protect privacy.
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2021-08-01
During each of the lockdowns the popular way for my friends and I to stay in touch was through video calls to each other on the Facebook messenger app. Pictured here is myself and four other friends on a Saturday night all talking to each other. Two of the participants were wearing suits as they had previously attended a video call for a football presentation. It was not uncommon for people to jump in and out of calls as the calls themselves could last a number of hours.
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2021-10-22
Greek Week was my first experience in a sorority. It was amazing to live thanks to the help of the Greek life leaders. Because of COVID-19, it had been online, and the experience wasn't the same. I'm really thankful that it was possible to do it in person this time, and it meant a lot to me to bond with my new sisters. Paul, one of the main authorities during this event was a very good leader. He maintained COVID-19 guidelines and enforce them very strictly. Thankfully nobody got COVID-19 and the games were played and fulfilled as supposed to. Without him or the other figures that helped everything would have not been possible, this experience wouldn't have been what it was.
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2020-03-01
In March 2020, my former place of employment was forced to close down as a result of lockdown restrictions. This was the only communication given to employees about being let go. I had worked at the company for four years at the time from the age of 16 through to the time I was 20. I have redacted some of my own personal information as well as information that could give the company away. The swim school did not manage to reopen at full capacity for almost a year and many staff did not return to the school as they found other employment.
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2021-10-08
During the lockdowns, my younger brother had to study at home, as such he asked for mum to buy him a desk that he could use to study on. He ended up using this desk for the entire 5th and 6th lockdown in Melbourne. Often times his desk was filled with sheets of paper and open books, pictured here is the desk in a far more cleanly state.
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2020-10-20
This New York Times article from October 20, 2020 comments on the positive spotlight smaller art fairs and lesser known galleries have bene thrust under due to restrictions on social gatherings and a changing public perspective amidst uncertainty and turbulent political and social issues exacerbated by Covid-19. The pandemic has provided an opportunity for smaller, more niche art fairs such as 1-54 or Viennacontemporary.
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2020-11-17
Anny Shaw writes for The Art Newspaper about the postponement of the 2020 edition of Art Basel, Hong Kong. The art fair was previously cancelled in February one month ahead its standard date in mid-March. It was tentatively rescheduled for May 2021 in hopes of vaccination and improvement in daily numbers of contraction and death rates.
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2020-05-21T22:21
One of the ways that my family and I relaxed in the evenings during the first COVID-19 lockdown was by doing jigsaw puzzles. Here are just two examples
of the many we completed throughout 2020. We set up in the living room using a board of sorts (cardboard from the box our television had been in) to do it on so that all the pieces would stay within one area and the whole thing would be portable if we needed the table back. The map one (left) had 1500 pieces and was the first one we completed in May. The second puzzle pictured here (right) was a particular struggle because it did not come with a picture of what the finished puzzle looked like. We all worked on our own little sections before figuring out how they all came together. It was an incredibly satisfying moment to see the puzzle completed finally knowing how each of our little parts fit together to create it.
Jigsaw puzzles have been something that have helped me relax for years. There was often one at my high school library that I would do to have a break from my studies in order to take my mind off things. As it was in the library multiple people would join in making it very much a collective effort. Thus, doing jigsaws with other people, in this case my family, during these hard times was one of the things which helped keep me relatively sane during 2020. It was a very rewarding activity that allowed for greater engagement with one another than simply watching television for hours on end.
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2021-07-24T14:50
In July 2021, while on one of my afternoon walks, I discovered this local lockdown activity of chicken feeding. A local household was offering people the chance to feed their very friendly and excitable chickens. I am unsure when this activity first started as I do not usually walk the way that would take me past them. However, it was an amusing and relaxing thing to be able to do amidst the chaos of a global pandemic. The chickens were really very cute, despite not the brightest creatures I've ever known. I have visited them with my family regularly ever since that first time and have noted that other people, often local children, have also relished the opportunity to interact with live animals. In a small way, I believe the chickens have brought the neighbourhood a little closer together and given local children the opportunity to interact with animals they would not normally get a chance to.
Sadly, due to old age and the presence of urban foxes the number of chickens has decreased and only one of the original trio remains (as of October 2021). However, she has a new friend now and is very keen to establish her authority. The sign and container of dry food has been removed but we often bring them other food- they are particularly fond of sowthistle.
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2020-11-24
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way I travel on a local level. Before the lockdowns in Melbourne I would frequently (several times per week) travel via public transport, mainly on trams. However, the lockdowns meant that all the things that I would use public transport to get to were moved online. As a result, for over eight months I did not use public transport at all. The increased exposure sites on trams meant that even when restrictions eased in various periods, I was reluctant to use them. The few times I have been on trams since I have felt anxious as there were often other passengers that did not wear facemasks properly, if at all. As a result, I now tend to use other forms of transport such as cycling and walking to arrive at destinations.
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2020-03-15
Previous to COVID-19, everything related to community engagement was hands-on, face-to-face, and in-person. However, right after spring break in 2020, everything changed because of COVID-19, and new ways of interacting with the community and each other were used. To demonstrate this I uploaded for this item a screenshot from the Instagram page of the Community Engagement Office of St. Mary's University. Almost none of us were used to zoom and in a couple of weeks zoom turned into the number one platform used by businesses and schools as a means of communication and our community engagement was not the exception. One of the activities that were made during COVID-19 was a Netflix Party through zoom with many students engaged through the network. As a personal experience, I was part of a group/class called Empower: Ecuador that was very focused on personal relationships and community building, and transitioning to zoom was not easy. However, we were able to culminate our semester and encounter new ways to connect with each other through zoom and other social platforms in meaningful ways while keeping each other safe from getting sick. It was a matter of caring for each other so deeply that connecting in person was no longer an option, but our intentionality to connect and interact with each other grew in many other creative ways to achieve the goal of community engagement despite all the difficulties that we were all going through.