Anna-Belle Butterworth COVID-19 Photo Essay
Item
- Title
- Anna-Belle Butterworth COVID-19 Photo Essay
- Subject
- COVID-19 (Disease)
- Description
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Everything about everyday life changed since Covid-19 Pandemic spread like wildfire, across communities all over the world. The way we do things have changed. I have collected a series of images that capture the effect the pandemic has had on society. How we cope with the new challenges and what we do to overcome them. As an international student coming to Ireland for university, in the middle of a global pandemic, the following images capture just some of the experiences and impressions that I have collected.
Image 1 – ‘Controlled’
I took this photo in the UCC Student Center, on the 11th of November. It’s placed by the seating area, where you’d normally sit and enjoy your lunch with friends between lectures. The fact that such a simple event such as eating your lunch is now under strict control, has, at least for me, made it less of a relaxing activity. Social distancing has become a part of daily life, but it has also had an effect on how I now view activities such as just simply sitting down to enjoy a few moments with friends. I now have to stress about if my Covid Cert. is showing properly and if my phone even has any battery. Lunchtime has become a restrictive activity, full of stress and worries about whether or not you’re sitting to close to the person at the other table and if you remembered to disinfect the surfaces, before you sat down. Personally, I think this restrictive way of going about everyday activities, will stay with us for a long time after Covid.
Image 2 – ‘No Socialising with Outsiders’
This picture shows a part of my contract, from the accommodation I’m currently a resident in, captured on the 20th of October 2021. It states that, due to the restrictions caused by the pandemic we are not allowed to have any visitors. This had a major effect on how I now socialise. It means that parties are also strictly off limits. In my view, parties and social gatherings are a big part of student life, so when I am discouraged from having any sort of social contact with my friends, other than my flatmates, it also discourages a big part of what I had anticipated for a long time. I am forced to find other ways to meet up with friends and enjoy a drink or two, but am still obstructed by restaurants and bars that have to close early due to Covid. Are we at the point where we have to figure out new ways to spend time with friends? I think this will prompt new and exciting ways to enjoy the college experience, that might also carry through to the students attending University in the years to come.
Image 3 – ‘Reinventing education’
I found this meme by Adult Swim whilst scrolling through Tumblr, in a moment of procrastination. It accurately describes the frustration that comes with the new concept of ‘online learning’. Whilst frantically trying to log on to Zoom in the last five minutes before the lecture, you are likely to get stuck in the ‘waiting room’ of the Zoom meeting. You’ll then have to be invited in by the lecturer, given that she/he notices that a load of students are stuck in limbo and are not able to hear nor see what is going on. The whole concept of online learning and suddenly having to rely on technology to be able to teach and learn, is not only confusing for the lecturer but also for the student. We’ve had to adapt almost every aspect of our lives following the Pandemic, which will in turn have an effect on how we learn and carry our experiences with us into the future. Passing down sto-ries to future generations of how we had to endure online learning, playing on the ‘You don’t have it tough. Back in my day….’ cliché, giving it a whole new meaning.
Image 4 – ‘ Covid-19 Art’
I was walking home from a day of lectures on the 15th of November of this year, looked up into a passing shop window and saw this piece of art-work hanging on the adjoining wall. I think it encapsulates perfectly the way we use hu-mour to cope with serious issues. The suggestion on the poster made me chuckle and think about how making jokes about Covid-19 has only been a recent thing. Now that the vaccine has been rolled out and the deaths are lessening, it has become more acceptable to use humour to lighten the mood. The pandemic has changed a lot of things for a lot of people and we need to document the changes. Making satirical artwork about it, is only of the many ways Covid will be memorialised.
Image 5 – ‘A very Covid Christmas’
This meme I found whilst, again looking through Tum-blr. Facemasks have become an important part of everyone’s daily routine, making sure that you don’t leave the house without one. As Christmas slowly approaches, the pandemic still very apparent in our lives, finding alternative uses for all the used facemasks can be fun , like for example creating a ‘Nativity Scene’. Finding a light-hearted way to deal with heavy issues, like the pandemic, can for some be a way of coping during trying times. Bringing a little bit of Christmas cheer using material from an impressionable time in our lives and tak-ing a picture, will eternalise the experiences of a society forever. It’ll give the future genera-tions an idea of what it was like to live under such circumstances and what we did to deal with the challenges we faced as a community.
To conclude, the Covid-19 pandemic has had massive effects on society as a whole, com-pletely changing and warping our daily routines and lives. I managed to capture some im-ages portraying some of these changes. How online learning changed how we obtain infor-mation and how we conduct ourselves as university student, how facemasks have not only become a daily necessity but also an outlet for some light-hearted humour. Covid has also penetrated art and how we memorialise events and feelings. The pandemic will be remem-bered not only by the people who lived through it, but it has been recorded for the future generations.
- Creator
- Anna-Belle Butterworth
- Date
- March 2020 - April 2021
- Rights
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Cork Folklore Project - Publisher
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Cork Folklore Project
- Item sets
- Photo Essays
