Went to see the Tashkeel’s Covid Conversations exhibition today, which from the first glance can be described as the show about gloves and masks, as a lot of people drew inspiration for their art from these elements that populated our lives this year, but only until you start looking closely – the narratives are about loss, anger, frustration, pain, hope, and the way of coping. I don’t think we had a year ago (in my lifetime) with a global event that united us all so much at the same time divided us so much, but nobody came out of here without a story. At least we all learned how to wash our hands properly, ain’t it glorious?
I didn’t think we would live to the day when the mosques would close their doors and literally ask people to stay at home and pray at home (changing the call for prayer from it’s usual form). I feel like a lot of people turned to religion or other forms of soul searching in these challenging times, other’s turned to watching every show they found on Netflix or exercising which is also a form of religion in a way. I swear, I have never seen so many Dubayottes running the streets in all the possible places.
With time passing we’re going to forget about those small things, food obsessions, songs we listened to, runs or bicycle rides we took, that’s why it felt important for me to document them. Lots of kids were born this year who (we truly hope so) will not have to go through this experience, but it’s our job to remind them to take things seriously if this shit to appear again. Similar story happened just 100 years back and apparently, some of us were not even aware. Temptation to dust and forget is strong, but maybe instead let’s tell a story… a story of scars, one day shared under the stars that have died long time ago but still shining for us through unimaginable distances… in hope that each one of us will be the star of at least one story, be it a glorious story or 2020 survival tips and tricks. Make it count.
Playing with the Light 