Minal Pervez: Moods in Quarantine

Minal Pervez is a recent graduate in Textile Design from the Department of Visual Studies, University of Karachi, Pakistan. She completed her dissertation on 'Fusion of Ornamental and Textile Jewelry'. Here she discusses her approach to documenting her moods during lockdown.

"I'm a person who practices self-isolation as an exercise to reflect on myself and learn about myself, but it is a controlled exercise which I can change the way I want. This pandemic however has upended the control we all exert over our lives and has put limits and roadblocks in our routines. I have observed the world going through similar moods and emotions at a common time for all of us.

We have days where we have mental breakdowns; days where we find some small cause of hope and happiness; days where we are battling our fears, anxieties and insecurities. Then there are days we are calm and wonder what made us be so edgy in the first place? We are fearful of contracting the disease and are also relieved at being one of the survivors, it would be a grand thing to tell our grandkids: We survived the pandemic, phew! We are pondering over how we took our times of togetherness, of cheer, of laughing with friends and families for granted. We were so busy getting on with our lives that to find a microbiological entity disrupt our lives to the extreme is baffling.

This pandemic has brought a feeling of equality around the world and made us more united. Increasing death tolls devastate us but there is a silver lining, the hunt for the discovery of a vaccine is at an unparalleled speed. I finally decided to sketch these feelings with a play on lines keeping my artwork minimal and to the point. I kept on adding moods daily of my observation. It was quite relieving to doodle such moods with just a pen in my hand. I hope to look back on these moods to remind me of the year we all stayed inside to protect each other."

You can see more of Minal's work on Instagram.

CuratorSpace are currently featuring articles by artists, curators and organisations who want to share their experiences of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, whether that is artists using their practice as a way of exploring new boundaries of isolation, or as a way to connect more broadly with their communities. We are also interested in hearing from curators and organisations who are offering support to artists and audiences during this time.

Contact us at louise@curatorspace.com to share your story.
 

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