Art and Isolation
It looks like MN is dialing back and headed into a second round of COVID restrictions. Also, winter is coming! We will all be hanging out in our houses, trying to find someone to do. This article, ‘What we can learn about isolation from prison artists,’ talks about a different type of isolation - prison - and how inmates use art to pass the time and process emotions.
Here’s an interesting quote from the article: “Most prison artists don’t consider making art until they become incarcerated. For many, it is a choice of growth over deterioration.”
A choice of growth over deterioration. This stuck out to me because as I look back over the past 9 months, I haven’t grown as a person as much as I would like to. Back in March, I ordered several books that I wanted to read, different books about self improvement, history, art, politics, etc. I went into quarantine with a hope of coming out a more educated, a more enriched person. How many did I read?
Zero.
Instead, I have spent my extra free time scrolling through Instagram, watching videos on Tiktok, Snapping friends funny pictures, and I’ve finished 9 different TV series. Nine! Have I deteriorated? Well, that’s probably a difference of opinion, but I can safely say I haven’t grown.
So, as winter is starting, and as MN ‘dials it back’, I am challenging myself to be more mindful about how I spend my time in the next few months. If you’ve spent the past few months like myself, I challenge you to be more mindful as well.
-Jess
(I would like to note that I am extremely grateful that this is what’s on my mind right now. Many people have far more pressing worries to be thinking about.)
“To those of us living with stress and frustration during COVID-19 restrictions, these artists demonstrate how to develop an inner space of freedom – and how to live imaginatively and purposefully in a strange new world.”