Chapters of Memory
Artist Name: Jessica, Pamela, Daniel, Shatisha
Artist Statement
In March 2020, a novel virus entered the US that suddenly caused panic and chaos. Day to day life dramatically changed overnight. Everyone was required to isolate. Most public businesses had to shut down. Many people became unemployed. Everyone was also required to wear masks in public. Many lives were lost. People had to cope with the situation in their own way. This may have caused the fear of going out and socializing. Which may have led to a feeling of isolation. In being isolated many people had to find themselves in order to get through the situation. Many people also found themselves at home with their family more than usual which may have caused either a feeling of annoyance or appreciating their family more. Families worked together to get through the situation and individuals found strength in family. At the same time there was the fear of possibly bringing the virus to the vulnerable at home. In creating our monument, we wanted to represent a variety of feelings, hopes and struggles individuals went through during the pandemic.
During the pandemic everyone had their own unique situations they went through. When creating our monument, we decided to have a house on top of a rock with a woman on top. There is yellow tape in front of the house. The background is a living room. It represents of what could be the inside of the house, loneliness. It could also mean other things like maybe being stuck at home with family. The house on top rock of the rock means it’s an isolated house. The yellow tape also represents isolation. It represents the social distancing that was done during the pandemic. The yellow tape can also mean many other things. It can represent the restrictions that were mandated by the government. The closing down of many venues. The restrictions of many social activities. The limited amount of people allowed together. The mandated face masks while in public. The woman on top sitting with her knees to her face can represent sorrow. The woman can also represent someone that is at home who is stuck with their memories of the pandemic. Their own chapter of memory. It’s represents our title of the monument “Chapters of Memory”. Everyone has their own stories to tell so we tried our best to make our monument to be representative of many of these stories.
Chapter 1 Daniel’s story
One common feeling among many people was the feeling of isolation. One walk through times square early in the pandemic and you knew things were not the same. It was empty without the same presence it once had. It was quiet without the people. The lights are not the same without a joyful crowd. You start to miss the usual tourists that are taking pictures of what’s up above on the sidewalk. The same ones that usually got in your way of walking. The streets were empty, depressing and scary at the same time. There was nowhere to go, and you were required to social isolate. It led to life being more lonely than usual. In coping with this you had to find a way to stay together. Many people pickup exercising more. Watching more of their favorite tv shows on Netflix to get through the times. What did I do? As the person named Daniel, I had a lot more thinking going on. I had to find an activity to get out of head so I started jogging more. For me personally jogging was an activity that kept me together. I found strength in jogging. I would put my headphones on, put soothing music on. To get ready for the long journey. The long journey of pushing my body through boundaries made me feel like I was making progress in something. The soothing music would keep me going on just when I want to give up. During the jog, my focus is on myself, controlling my breath and making it to the end. The whole experience of the music playing in my ears and the jog itself took me away from everything that was going on. The world around me was forgotten if only temporarily. I also tuned into Netflix and started re-watching The Avatar series, an old kids tv show I grew up with. As I watched this it brought back many memories of joy from my childhood. At the same time, it made me realize how much things have changed. The pandemic led to a lot of time of me thinking about things. I contrasted memories of when I was kid with many friends around me to now, a moment when I was more alone than usual. In returning to my job, I learned that many people had gotten laid off. Many of these people were people I enjoyed having around at work. The environment was not the same. Everything had changed but I knew it was going to be ok. It’s just life with it’s ups and downs and my situation wasn’t so bad.
Chapter 2 Pamela’s story
There is a lot of us that are going through a tough time right now and sad part is that we all have to be distant from each other. No one knew what was going on and no one knew that the virus can travel. It shocked us all when stores, restaurants, schools, were forced to be closed but super markets since we needed some groceries to survive. It’s insane how things were going at first, we should have been doing this from the start, a lot of diseases were around but no one wants to listen till it gets worse. Last spring was my first semester and it was weird for me that I was actually happy with my classes and schedule, a month later we all had to use zoom to do our classes. For my first time being in school again I had to be doing my classes online which was interesting. I can’t complain but it did save me because I use to be late to class everyday and online classes saved me. My experience being at home and seeing my family every single day was tough, I got to meet my family a lot more but there was a lot of ups and downs going on that’s one thing I didn’t like about this pandemic and we’re hardly at home all together. We did learn how to communicate and teach each other I did do a lot of activities that I enjoyed and learned new stuff too. I didn’t go out till it was June so I searched whatever there was in the house to enjoy. There was a lot of anxiety, depression, overthinking going on because I’m not a indoor person I love to go out & I was being forced to stay inside. Controlling your own anxiety is really hard but I taught myself that you own your body and you tell it to leave, it helped me a lot. I didn’t have much depression but I was always doing something, I can not let my depression bring me down. I had a lot in mind, I started to do sculptures, handmade clay jewelry, more art projects, tote bags, I did my own Etsy shop too. I can’t say that this pandemic was terrible but it was a life learning lesson .
Chapter 3 Jessica’s story
The virus had a significant impact on my daily life because I spent most of my time alone in my house because I was the only daughter in the family and my daily routine consisted of going to college, coming home, and doing my daily activities such as going to work, doing my homework, cleaning my house, and being able to watch Netflix in my spare time. I used to see my parents at night when they came home from work, and dinner time was our moment to talk about how our day was and about more issues related to the family. My daily routine began to change because I stop working at my part-time job, my regular classes became online classes, and especially when the quarantine became mandatory. I was able to see my parents 24 hours a day, in the beginning it was weird. First, I used to have my own space because I knew I had the entire house to myself. Despite not seeing my parents for almost the whole day, we have a strong bond, so I was able to enjoy the quarantine with my parents to the fullest, especially with my father because he is a very outgoing person and every moment he comes up with every idea to do, such as when his hair grew long during quarantine and but he couldn’t go to the hairdresser because the entire barbershop was closed, he asked me if I could cut his hair, but I had never cut anyone’s hair before and didn’t know how to do it, so I started cutting his hair with scissors without knowing, the moment was so funny, I decided to make live streaming on my social media so that others could see how I attempted to cut my father’s hair and how it was a complete failure because it was funnier than it was. After all, I cut pieces of hair in different places, making the hair a mess; the good news is that we were in the house, so no one could see his hair. However, because his hair was still long, my father asked my mother if she could cut his hair with the razor, which my mother refused because she did not want to be responsible for how she leaves his hair which my father didn’t care because he just wanted to have short hair like always, to which my mother agreed, but ended up being a mess, but in this case, my dad at least had short hair, and when he had to go to the market to buy food, he had to wear a cap to hide his haircut. Despite the isolation we had to endure from others, it strengthened our bond as a family even more.
Chapter 4 Shatisha’s story
The coronavirus Pandemic completely changed my life. I had a system established for me and my daughter and me. We would go to the library and linger in the supermarket until something called me to purchase it. We would go to restaurants and order, then go to the park. I didn’t think twice about people being close to me or what surfaces I’ve touched. I lost the freedom to breathe in the air no matter how many were around, and I think that part is one of the most significant aspects of “normal” I am still battling with. I have confined myself into my apartment because it’s where I feel safe and where I control what is happening. I’ve grown to accept the isolation. I don’t invite too many guests over, and I have all my groceries delivered to my door. However, I would say the most substantial loss of “normalcy” is time. Time became a fragment of when the pandemic started and yesterday mixed with last month and tomorrow. Being lost in time has put such a strain on keeping a schedule. My sleep pattern is nonexistent. I’ve watched the sun come up many mornings and wondered who else was dealing with these same changes? Trying to find a rhythm with the day has made me miss store hours which is probably another reason why delivery works best. I can’t get out of the house in time and have had plenty of gates rolled down in my face because the store was closing. Stores that have late-night hours have become my time to escape my home for a little retail therapy. No one is hardly there at 10 pm. The sad part is, I could never tell my mother or grandmother I was out shopping at 10 pm because they would think I was crazy, especially since I have no choice but to have my daughter with me. But we love it. It’s our little moment and our little secret. We would go up and down the aisles, aimlessly grabbing whatnots and lipgloss or ice cream(depending on where we’re at). It makes me feel good. My daughter’s face lights up to see other people, and it’s just the right amount for me not to feel scared.
While losing parts of my “normal,” I did learn that I am stronger than I thought. Even with being in the sense of a time loop, I’ve still managed to be inspired to decorate my apartment. I’ve made my home a place where I feel calm and proud. I’ve used colors I’ve dreamed of for years. I’ve homeschooled my daughter on our terms. It has made our bond much more vital. She talks to me, and I can sense when she is not feeling grounded. I’ve learned new ways to connect with her through painting and building. I have upped my skills on baking cupcakes, and my daughter assists me. I’ve learned to open up more to my family about my worries, and even though I don’t visit them as much as I used to, I’ve never felt closer. This situation has made me firmer in my parenting decisions, and I’m thankful for it.
These were just a few stories from the pandemic. There are many more stories. Stories that dealt with family, isolation and finding hope during the pandemic. We hope our monument is representative of many of these stories. Representative of the many unique “Chapters of Memory”.
