Negotiating the Subtle Encounters

Abstract

When I started writing this article, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic had not yet hit the world as it has now. However, even if there is evidence that by November of 2019, China had already registered cases of the carnivorous virus, the world was barely prepared to tackle the situation. Now nearly every part of the world is affected, without a cure, the only way to prevent the pandemic is by avoiding contact with other people “social distancing” or home quarantine and isolation. Countries have had to lock down, but in the most impoverished environments, how does one social distance or practice a self-imposed quarantine, when 12 people live in a two-roomed house. How does a community social distance when they are hungry, and there are scarce food products. Social distancing or isolation becomes an illusion in these environments with volatile economies. How do we reflect on this magnitude of an apocalyptic nature? How do we respond, what does Art do?