Esther Kim

Happy 2020

“Happy 2020” explores unprecedented changes in values during the pandemic. Ever since the COVID-19 crisis locked down everyone in their homes globally, we are living in a moment of pause amid quarantine. Walking on the street, encountering people with masks with sanitizers in their pockets, I feel as if we are living in an apocalyptic world. We hear news of our beloved ones’ death on the news, and we can no longer excitedly greet our neighbours like we used to. Surreal reality has become ubiquitous in our daily life. The pandemic has drastically impacted and reformed our perspective in our daily life. A global, novel virus keeps us contained in our homes for months, and our materialistic obsessions are now unimportant, and some values of our mundane objects have been radically increased. The current catastrophe draws us to the question of what is genuinely valuable in our life. We are left to reflect and face ourselves.