When Covid-19 began, having studied Human Connection for a few years now, I knew that the way we connected was never going to be the same again. At least not for the forseeable future. Singapore, where I am based, was one of the first countries where social distancing was enforced. As other nations went on to lockdown mode, knowing what I knew from my research on the topic, I knew that feelings of disconnection, anxiety and loneliness would increase for those people already at risk. For people with existing depression or older people like my mother with dementia already isolated, Covid-19’s solitude would increase their Cortisol levels (stress hormone) and quite possible lower their immunity further.
Simone Heng poses with her Human Connection art series while in quarantine
How, as a Human Connection specialist, could I fight this? How could I spread the message of Human Connection from my own isolation? I knew that creativity, particularly Art was key in reducing anxiety. This is why Art Therapy has been so successful in garnering connection from children with special needs and likewise drawing the elderly out of dementia.
I am by no means the best painter in the world. I am a hobbyist who happened to study Art for my final high school exams, regardless of this, painting provides me with huge joy. It allows me to connect with myself and is something I can only do when given the opportunity to slow down. Painting this series has allowed me to feel that what is happening right now can have some positive spin. I guess it gives me some sense of peace amongst the panic. I hope the project does this for others too.
So this project is not so much about the painting itself but about its multi-layered connective value. It’s allowing me to process and connect better with myself, it’s then allowing me to connect better with others by sharing positive moments of Human Connection online and when this is all over I will reach out to the subjects of the paintings and send them to them. The final layer of connection.
Italian opera singer Laura Baldassari I painted below has already replied and agreed to receive her piece and take an image with it. I have made an agreement with myself to continue to paint moments of connection from this crisis until we are out of the woods. Please feel free to come here whenever you feel bored at home in quarantine to check out the new pieces as they appear.
Mostly, thank you for being here. I have credited all the sources here so you can click and see the original photos or videos that inspired these paintings.
Married healthcare workers Ben Cayer and Mindy Brock from Tampa, Florida embrace before starting their shift fighting Covid-19. Source The Daily Mail
In Iran, one of the worst-affected countries, an Iranian nurse dances. March 3rd 2020. Source Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty
As Italy goes into shutdown, opera singer Laura Baldassari joins a singing flashmob from her window, March 13th 2020. Source:VOA News
Healthcare workers in Wuhan reveal their scars from Personal Protective Equipment. Feb 4th 2020. Source: The Mothership
Exhausted healthcare workers in China fight the virus in early February. Source: South China Morning Post
The paintings of married healthcare workers and the opera singer will be sent to the subjects themselves in the USA and Italy.
Astrid Khoo, a healthcare hero in Singapore’s infectious disease centre with a painting of exhausted healthcare workers in the epicentre of the virus in Wuhan, China
Dr Arif Tyebally posing with a painting of an Iranian nurse dancing amidst the fight against Covid-19. His passion lies in Childhood Injury Prevention and Humanitarian and Disaster Relief work in hospitals in Singapore.
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