Notes from Quarantine – Part 9 – Distance

Dear Readers,

Have you heard of ‘social distancing’? Who hasn’t nowadays… It is silly, it is ridiculous and it is necessary.

You have to stand so many metres apart in the supermarket. Smaller shops are not allowed to have more than 1-2 customers at a time. If you find yourself on the train, you have to sit far away from the next person. And many more similar requirements.

Also, there are quotas like 2 people per car, no ‘crowds’ in the parks or on the beach… I simply do not go to the park or to the beach. Living close to the beach, it is quite difficult. You know, human factor: when it is not allowed it is highly desired.

However, I was thinking of writing the ‘upside down’ post. Yes, we are restricted by social distancing during this quarantine. But we have other options to connect.

For instance, I had a most funny, warm and cozy online (viber) session from my classmates last week. Boys and girls, some of them grandmothers and grandfathers by now, from different cities and different countries connected in the group chat on Viber. And it felt…. like school never ended.

Also, Facebook users popped millions of interesting pages and groups. One of them even called ‘IsoIsolation’. First Iso – abbreviation of the title of Arts lesson in our (Soviet and Russian) schools. In this group, mega-talented people re-created works of art, movies’ screenshots. Some of the works are mind boggling.

Participants recreate classical works of arts, famous paintings and sculptures. ‘Girl with a pearl earring’ is one of the most used works. It’s been recreated using girls, women, men, and even cats and dogs.

Starting of in Russia with Russian-speaking members only ‘IsoIsolation’ extended its membership to include people from all over the world. Language is not the barrier in this instance. All you need is love for art, imagination, creativity and desire to create and share.

The activity of this group is being noticed by giants such as BBC and now Lego. The administrators run various projects, challenges and competitions. This group is amazing example of how distance is not the issue and is not a barrier.

We are all in this together