Pictures of Covid-19: Remembering A Year of Crisis
What were the most significant moments for you in 2020? Revisit your snapshots, reflect on them, and share them with us!
By Leslie Koh
What photos do you have of your experience of Covid-19?
In my computer, my wife and I are accumulating snapshots in a folder called “Pictures of Covid-19”. Many of the pictures aren’t dramatic or even pretty; most were taken with our mobile phones.
One of our “last snacks”, taken the night before the Circuit Breaker kicked in—kaya crackers and cup of teh each, looking a bit forlorn like we were feeling.
Our “first meal” in a hawker centre, when the Circuit Breaker ended—chye tau kuay and chee cheong fun, and two huge (hidden) grins.
A nearly-empty Orchard Road at the beginning of the Circuit Breaker, as if the apocalypse had ended the human race.
My office set-up at home, representing the many months of isolation.
Most of these pictures, if not all, are significant only to my wife and me. But they are part of our personal memories of Covid-19.
Why did we bother?
Documenting the present . . . for the future
I think we started accumulating these photos because we wanted to record how our lives were affected by the pandemic, and how 2020 seemed to have flashed by.
Living through a pandemic in modern times, the accessibility of camera phones and social media has allowed us to capture every moment, every high and low; from the most mundane things like what we ate to significant scenes of isolation and heartbreak.
But documenting a year of life through Covid-19 did more than simply add to our archive of memories. It also reminded us how God had helped us through this difficult period, strengthening and comforting us through the times of frustration and isolation, and blessing us with times of joy and simple pleasures.
Long before camera phones, Facebook, and Instagram came on the scene, God had already helped people to capture such accounts in the Bible.
We’ve read of how the Israelites lived through some of their biggest crises, wandering in the desert, living in exile, and battling conquest. We’ve heard of what they ate, how they built their tents and dug their wells, and how many animals they kept.
Not all the details and records speak of God’s saving actions. Some just recall a painful incident or an example of the trouble that befell them, just like some of our photos today. But as we read about them today, we can see how all these things, both big and small, bad and good—all of them contributed to their memories of how God, in His grace and mercy, delivered them through and from disaster, and never abandoned them.
How has 2020 been for you? What is your personal experience of life in a pandemic? How about sharing with us a picture or two? As you go through your collection, how about taking a moment to reflect on how this year has been, and how God has been with you?
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