Pandemic times: Nine acts

A week before the lockdown I have to stay at home my head still full of touch and smell bodies be drawn a paper world some time think sketch chew bones what is this dread sound? choke? white? black? smoke? her rattling breath blows lukewarm air we hold on cheek she slips flies flesh thing soon there no more car train bus plane find way * brush nearby coughs silently takes me by hand grip squeeze drag our feet leave footprints page falling, tiny bird called catch it as paint your distant face scratch ink yellow side but that here you are speak despair it's early days do know months come years screens WhatsApp dreams purple line lock, key share words dip in blue Apologies friend many stormy hair howls contempt pathetic desperate attempts blow into life instead sheep bleats loudly roams around virtual space hops from phone don't care together knitting anthropologist detects an opportunity for fieldwork yet failed portraitist hide table cloth where smiles winks pen strokes rhythm That's beautiful say, turn quiet screen behind patterns pregnant dress demand spend hanging out lazy chat edge laugh notes, hide, watch worries packed hope The hour stretches arms wide I'm tell look move alone, along dripping nature research when can't knock doors? My stores stories delight anxious cheeks about smile took while first deep inhale exhale invading perhaps light blue? Reisepass1 appears starry eyes skies up flapping wings darker shade? shoots marks six dots search two, one, chews his mask other four methodically weigh risks flight so calm till colour finds basket granny's Bags all beads like birds land patient phones how useful might they sent 17.33 little scared type 19.46 there's plane, close see – mask-faced son washing hands arrived copy him he plays landed homeland face-to-face lean box stare talks too much frowns eye sits rides tide boredom hover over noses world, work? grid decides sound splash strikes discover shoulders oh frame soundbites greedy spits lashes says he-stroke-him power points finger those unseen right here, quite safe weapon others, two appear amused plants then squash tube blob green mix with water When pandemic hit March 2020, found myself stuck home, millions people. Confronted constant news reports rapidly rising infection mortality rates, reverted creative methods investigate terms challenges lockdown. Exploring surreal state immobility, vulnerability, emotional turmoil, Nine Acts emerged experiment picture-informed linguistic association. Post-pandemic, works offer ethnographically rich, evocative dwelling. painted visuals 2020–21 added their poetic companions 2022. Momento Mori (Figure 1), based pre-pandemic 10), investigates endless dying patients triggered personal memories mother's death. While earlier academic publications (Svašek 2008, 2010, 2012, 2018) already commented illness absence, painting-poetry mode articulation opened new avenue “tracing density human being” (Rapport 2022, 1118). Sisters 2) materialized chatting sibling through Skype, Jumper 3) describes moment realized “painting distance” could developed method. following 4-7) explore use approach during online migrant women (Northern) Ireland. In had researched communication technologies (fail to) create connections within transnational families 2018). lockdown, returned highly topical theme (Svašek, 2022; forthcoming). Hope, Side Side, Basket, Homeland COVID-19 affected female migrants' long-distance interactions locally lived lives comment ethnographic making painting. On Teams Conference2 analyze Zoom conferencing tools show potential painting-poems transform meetings humorous experiences 8, 9). pre-2020 graphic anthropology demonstrated value concentrated bodily attention sketching (Alfonso 2004; Causey 2017; Dix Kaur 2019; Elliot Culhane Hurdley Ramos 2004, 2018; Tausig 2010; Haapio-Kirk Cearns n.d.), painting-from-a-distance helped predicaments. Combined writing, effective tool skilled ethnographers (Maynard Cahnmann-Taylor 2010), capture “the patchwork minutia sensuous project worlds others” (Rubaii's 2023, 3). Performed 2022 fellow anthropologists, pulled public momentary experience empathetic togetherness 11). This multimodal performative can incorporated kinds projects reach audiences beyond academia.