To get to the trail where I walk a few days per week I have to drive through downtown. Since the shelter in place order, I see a few individuals, an occasional couple, mostly walking their dogs. Certainly no groups of three or more anymore.
We've become, at least temporarily, a society of individuals. And even though in the end that is our true endemic state—we are after all born alone, and die alone—as humans we avoid at all costs the full embrace of that reality, lest we violate our prime imperative; socialize or die.
While taking a stroll through my illustration portfolio, I noted that ironically, aloneness seems to be a theme I return to frequently. Distinct from "loneliness" (I'm not, nor have I been for decades, really lonely), the pieces I've curated in this little gallery all reflect back to me some element of what I've been feeling since the pandemic; disorientation, separation, contemplation, attachment, profound calm, mild panic. They just seem to fit the moment in some way—at least to me.
