BEVEREN -‘Jailbirds’ intents to speak about the impact of the Covid-crisis and the lockdown, not only on a practical or economic level but to highlight mental processes and how it influences our psychological state. From a microcosmos: incarcerated life versus universal and collective uncertainty and the feeling of being deprived of physical and social freedom.
How it feels when freedom is suddenly taken away from you, being confined to one space, with little access to friends and family is just a taste of the long-term daily life experience in jail. There is a deeply symbolic parallel to be drawn between imprisonment and the Covid-lockdown. The dogmas of the mind can be like prison walls. There’s a lot of controversy around empathising with convicted criminals. To be heard and seen is often a big step for this ’invisible’ community. The shared sense of imprisonment due lockdown may lead to empathy, compassion and understanding.
Will the covid19-crisis be the “reset" we think and dream it could be? An opportunity to stop, pause and start again, to courageously implement positive change to reform a rigid system that has lost track of humanity and lost touch with nature? Or, will it constrain previously acquired freedom and endorse a regime, a climate of division? In that context, this project is a prism through which to look for answers.
Photo: © Sanne De Wilde
