During UK’s first lockdown in spring 2020 I was working on my quarantine diary and now I decided to write a few words about it as we are still struggling to go through this challenging time. My diary reflects the radical change isolation has made to my life, which my mind cannot accept and therefore this struggle impacts on my body.
I’ve used medical masks, which are a symbol of my enforced isolation and invisibility. I embroidered the masks with text, which in a metaphorical way represents my feelings, my hesitations, loss of control, the ambivalence of emotions, my non-acceptance, helplessness, intimidation, panic, emptiness, rage, disbelief and loss of reality. When the physical body is locked down, past traumas can be triggered which raise the mental imbalance and during isolation can only be tackled by your inner strength and self-acceptance.