A letter from Sophie De Somere & Barbara Raes
by
Sophie De Somere & Barbara Raes
Themes
Fellowships
To care, to cure, to comfort. To be with.
“Being with” involves allowing yourself to be touched by the joys, sorrows and sadness of another. To be touched by external circumstances. We learned to “be with” during these months of pandemic crisis. It highly influenced our fellowhip at PACT, not only in the impossibility, but more overly in the potential to research how we could turn this dramatic period into something filled with radical hope.
Care first, do later.
In intertwining art and care we try to transform reactions into responses and work with care as an antidote to nihilism, greed or indifference. We looked into the specific needs of today and where we could offer something that was comforting and curing through this connection between art and care. Our research during these months was mainly about what corona gives to us and what corona gives takes away from us. Our focus was the possibilty of giving back the missed farewell-moment once we will be able to reassemble again. Farewell without a proper farewell is not healing, nor allowing the start of a mourning proces. We tried to imagine alternatives for the current grieving (not only caused by corona, but also grief in a larger context) without proximity and togetherness.