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The last six months have been a bit like a hazy daydream; time has become fluid and hard to follow. We have retreated into our nu- clear families and have had to adapt to the “new normal” – finding small personal com- fort zones amid COVID-19 restrictions. Living in the suburbs of Manhattan meant being under severe limitations in the spring. As an artist, I regularly self isolate to do my work, so this comes perhaps more naturally to me than to others. My husband, Robert, has worked from home for a decade, so we were not bothered or bored being asked to stay put. However, the isolation was more difficult for our children who had to adapt to remote lessons. We found ourselves feeling constantly un- der siege, coping with the ever-changing in- formation landscape, with meeting the needs of immediate and extended family for support whether with schooling, navigating the new digital landscape, or procuring food and ne- cessities. Bombarded with images of the virus, charts and graphs of the pandemic’s speedy progress that affected the world, like most people, I felt overwhelmed. For the past decade, I have had a home stu- dio that was beginning to feel crowded and en- cumbered by familial responsibilities and de- tritus of home life. Now that my children were becoming older, I had begun to imagine having a space outside the house again. Punctuation needs adjusting, so: Yet, suddenly, I found myself counting my blessings: a studio at home that enabled me to retreat in the middle of all the new demands placed on us, right into my sanctuary – part of my compound, and I was living in it. I was able to dive deep and channel my anxieties into work. A week into “sheltering in place” amidst the sense of fear, chaos and awe at how suddenly life was changing completely, I experienced a tidal wave of creative energy that erupted into a prolific and evolving series of more than 100 pieces. This work is visceral, explores feelings and images surrounding the pandemic, as well as thoughts on hope, natural beauty and find- ing solace. Some days a piece is inspired by a hummingbird that came to visit, by glimmering sunshine, by children’s laughter, or by news of fires burning outside Chornobyl. As a painter of icons, I gravitate toward methodical process and delight in structure and precepts that give the work context. As I worked, a realization be- came ever more clear: at this moment in histo- ry, we are in profound need of the sacred. The pieces were inspired by mandalas that are often employed to aid in meditation and to provide sacred space. Using these forms as the starting point, I share my personal reflections exploring our current physical, mental, emotion- al, and spiritual state of being. Their geometries represent the cosmos or a time microcosm of the universe, or a model for the structure of life itself. I take comfort in the fact that it is said that creating mandalas helps stabilize and re-order inner life. We could all use a little more of that right now. We are all now witnesses to how daily threats change our behaviors and affect us both practically and emotionally. By Christina Saj Through the Pandemic On Art in Isolation, Sheltering in Place and Finding Sanctuary PainTing Our Life | Наше життя 16
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