Lockdown Hearts
My family spent part of the Covid lockdown quarantining in rural Connecticut. As a way to get my kids out of the house every day, we tried something called The Roaming Art Class. During a break from Zoom school, we would jump in the car and look for something interesting to draw. It might be a water tower or some construction equipment, maybe a lighthouse, or once, an enormous chicken statue. My kids would sit in the back of the car with the hatch open, sketchbooks in their laps, and they’d draw what they could see.
While out looking for a good spot my daughter would often point out what we called the lockdown hearts. If you were in a coma from 2020-2022, these were the hearts people put up in their yards to thank the healthcare workers who couldn’t hide from the pandemic like us (also if you WERE in a coma during those years, I’m sorry about that coma but your timing was so good).
We liked seeing the different ways people made their hearts. We thought those that were homemade, and often personal, were the best. I started photographing my favorites. Here are a few:
If you look, a lot of the hearts remain out in front of people’s homes. I don’t know if this is neglect, or if they feel like the pandemic isn’t over and they’re still thankful (it’s probably both), but when I see them I immediately think of those weird days, and the roaming art class.
Travis
I made a playlist of some of the music I was listening to while driving around back then, with a few things added more recently, and it’s what I was listening to while I wrote this: