Letter from the editors: Welcome to Quaranzine
Photography David Jorre
At a time when touch is taboo, the need to connect has never felt so pressing
By Allyssia Alleyne and Maddalena Vatti
Everything is, clearly, a little fucked. We’re all trapped inside, separately yet together, for the foreseeable. The health of our bodies, our communities and our loved ones is a giant question mark. Planning for a future that extends beyond tomorrow seems futile. The boredom is setting in. We’re figuring out who among us can handle the isolation and who will try to organise an ill-advised rave.
But at the same time, creativity is thriving. People are looking inward – either into their homes or into themselves – and developing new projects to maintain their sanity and pass the time. For us, this creativity has led to the creation of Quaranzine, this online platform for responses to the bizarre times we’re living in, and a place to share our experiences and those of the people around us.
For our first issue, love in the time of coronavirus was the obvious theme. Living in a house of almost 20 people at a time when touch is taboo, love and intimacy seem to bookend every conversation. The coupled-up enumerate the pros and cons of shacking up and mutual isolation. The single weigh the risks of PG-rated park dates with Tinder matches and exchange texts with exes. And, when we can think beyond our own frustrated bodies, all of us long for the company of the friends and family we've been separated from.
Even in a large group of people, a strange loneliness sets in. The need to connect, to be touched, to be seen has never felt so pressing.
Under lockdown, love and longing can play out in many different ways. Dominique Staindl has been fantasizing about her neighbour, whose deep, authoritative voice wafts over their shared fence and stirs her imagination. Photographer Roxy Hervé used her time alone to redefine intimacy through self-portraiture. After moving in with her new boyfriend after only two weeks, Amy Harriott Gregor has been luxuriating in an enviably intense honeymoon period, while the extra time with her own partner has Alexandra Genova writing poetry about babies.
We hope you enjoy reading their stories and the other lockdown dispatches we’ve collected for Quaranzine’s inaugural issue. And if you’d like to share your own experiences, we’d love to hear from you.
In solidarity and isolation,
Allyssia + Maddalena