Mother Quarantine: a visual journal/map of the lockdown in our home. I took my trusty sewing machine and the stitches represent my kids voices (green is the toddler, red is the 6yr old). I changed direction everytime they laughed. The more complex stitches represent their crying (the 6 year old cried significantly more when she is fighting sleep, also when the toddler ruins her game). The netting comes from the fruits we ingested; there were a lot of them. The ‘weaving’ represent their screen time, one line stands for 20 minutes. There are my engineering drawings (signifying work), the kids’ snack box (more food, more momming), and the kids line doodles, layered over myself (the painted textile). I have kept the painted textile since early this year (an unwanted color study) and only found use of it when the lockdown happens. There beauty of this piece is knowing that in years to come, I am able to look at it and all the memories come rushing. I tried the best that I could, I loved much much more.

 

"For this piece I am challenging the working norms. Working through the quarantine, juggling kids at home, full time work, and housechores drove me to the wall. It is NOT sustainable and I cannot stress it enough. However, there is nothing done from my company to acknowledge this extra weight that is faced mostly by women employees more than men. My female colleagues and I commiserate, complain to each other about how harassed and exhausted we are, and I hardly hear any of my male colleagues do the same. Because in reality, nothing's changed for them. The other challenge of Working From Home is the extra long hours. Male colleagues complain about this too. But Try having to work extra hours on top of doing the laundry, making lunch, getting the kids ready, figuring out their technical issues during virtual schooling, etc. The working landscape is changing thanks to the pandemic, and I hope that as companies these days are stressing on employees mental health, they acknowledge the extra burden faced by the women employees as well, and how related these two issues are."