Shannon O’Regan COVID-19 Photo Essay
Item
- Title
- Shannon O’Regan COVID-19 Photo Essay
- Subject
- COVID-19 (Disease)
- Description
-
I wanted to do this essay because most documenting of Covid-19 and of the lockdowns we’ve had has been about the outside world. While it is a large change in our lives, how the world we knew changed voices like my own have gone unheard. I have asthma and I stayed inside for the safety of my health, as Covid is a disease of the lungs. During the first lockdown and subsequent months were filled with watching the world change through a screen or window. In this essay I wanted to document the inside voice, and how we, as people, kept ourselves sane during Covid lockdowns.
1. “The View From the Window”
In the months following March 2020 I became quite familiar with the view from my bedroom window. My window, which looks down at the back gardens of some of my neighbours, is in the perfect place to get the sun in the evening, and when the sun sets show off the wonderful clouds. The number of days, weeks I spent sitting at the edge of my bed looking out the window are lost to me, as they’ve all blended into one. The following photos I took by pulling up the blinds on my window so I could capture a moment I wanted to save or be able to share online.
2. “Baking Memories”
Like many people at the start, I along with my mam started baking more. It was something we enjoyed doing pre-covid but never really had the time or energy after work to do. Finding recipes was the easy part as the influx of people staying at home wanted something to do, there were many websites advertising this cupcake or sponge cake recipe. Getting the ingredients was something left to my mother and by her recollection was somewhat difficult. With so many people trying to bake that drove up demand for the ingredients, and with shelves already empty of certain products that meant we had to get creative. I remember the first thing we made were chocolate cupcakes, which were simple enough but were very plain. We melted down the remaining chocolate to add something to the top of them, but we didn’t have enough to cover them all. They were still eaten though.
3. “I May Have Killed a Tree or Five”
As news of Covid was rapid, was constant, was scary one way I found to take a step back from it was reading. Before Covid I would read a handful of books in a year, but in those months my little library increased by a lot. It was a way to escape from the barrage of numbers, of cases we were told about each day, it was informative but extremely fear inducing. The brief reprieve that books, that narratives, gave me was a breath of fresh air. Pictured are just some of the books I ordered and read (and reread) during Covid. The Percy Jackson Series, in particular I want to talk about, as I read them when I was a young teenager and reading them again was a nice revisit.
4. “In Darkest Days”
While being locked in the house was manageable at the start, as the days passed winter came with it. With the sun setting earlier, the nights became longer, and my mental state was not holding up well. The aforementioned reading of books helped somewhat but the dark still encroached. To alleviate it I got colouring books, I doodled in notebooks, I wrote traditionally and digitally. All of these helped me through but one thing that stood out, and still stands out when the darkness gets close is drawing on my door. The back of my bedroom door is painted in chalkboard paint, and I am freely allowed to draw on it with chalk. There was a freedom that I got when doing the two pieces pictured, a freedom from worry. I like to think these pieces are reflections of my thoughts when doing them. The longing for the sun to shine again, for flowers to grow and to be able to walk and smell them. While the lightning is bright and brilliant but volatile, but only there for a moment. I would like to think in the moment of drawing it I thought Covid would not have lasted as long as it has.
5. “A Breath of Fresh Air”
As the months passed by, I was experiencing at lot more sad days, as we call it in my house, where I am not fully myself. My mam helped me through it though. She helped in any way she could, we baked, we talked about anything and nothing, we even made puzzles which took us a very long time. But the best thing she did for me was to ask my dad to bring us to Tramore. This was of course after the 5k rule was eased. I took this picture August 15, 2020, and not a sinner was to be seen. It could have been the weather, but I am pretty sure it was because of Covid, because even in the rain people would be out. It was almost perfect surfing weather. I remember we walked the length of the beach and sat there for as long as we could in the freezing sea air. After so long cooped up inside, getting out of the house and getting to go to one of my favourite places really helped revitalise me. It certainly helped for the coming months and after the new year.
6. “I’m Howling at the Moon”
When Covid became a bigger issue, the world moved online. As I was not in school or work at the time, I didn’t need Zoom, or Teams, or any other video conferencing software people were using. The software I used before was covid was called Discord, and that was the only software that I needed. I mostly used it to chat with international friends, and that’s about it. In December of 2020 I got a text from a friend inviting me to play Dungeons and Dragons with him, I had played with him previously, and I immediately said yes. What was different thins time was that it was all going to be online, using Roll20 and Discord. It was very weird hearing people but not seeing them and playing what is known as an in-person game online. It wasn’t perfect, the slight lag made people talk over each other the norm. But what always tripped me up was muting myself, and then forgetting to unmute myself. Though, it was not only a me problem, but several people also forgot. And I know it’s a universal problem because I have seen, and saved, many memes about forgetting to unmute. It shows that even when our norm changes people will always just still be people.
- Creator
- Shannon O’Regan
- Date
- Shannon O’Regan
- Rights
- Cork Folklore Project
- Publisher
- Cork Folklore Project
- Item sets
- Photo Essays
