Friday Lockdown
by Maryam Effendii from Amman, Jordan
During the initial lockdown, which lasted from March until June, the Kingdom of Jordan was doing quite well, with very limited infection numbers. This was attributed to the fact that it is a dictatorship where the military and intelligence services reign supreme. For a while, Jordanians were happy that military strength—the only thing that the state ever really catered to—was finally put into effect. It was capable of forcing people to stay at home; it was finally an advantage to living in a dictatorship.
When the second wave hit in October, things had gotten out of control and we were able to really see the perils of living in a dysfunctional state. Chaos reigns, and interventions by the Jordanian state make little sense. No long-term strategies can ever develop in dictatorships, especially not ones that are based in the middle of a war-zone, the Middle East. By October, infection rates were soaring and Friday lockdowns were subsequently imposed until the end of the year.
My cousin, who is a psychologist tells me that I am a 'schizoid;' I escape reality and hardship by living in my dreams, these photos reveal the places that I escape to. Every Friday lockdown was spent with loved ones around nature. The photos show recurring themes of slowness, languidness, humanity, nature and sweetness - small details that offered moments of stillness and deep understanding while all around everything was constantly transforming and recalibrating. This sense of transience brings to to mind Goethe’s words in Faust II:
Yet how superb, across the tumult braided,
The painted rainbow's changeful life is bending,
Now clearly drawn, dissolving now and faded,
And evermore the showers of dew descending!
Of human striving there's no symbol fuller:
Consider, and 'tis easy comprehending –
Life is not light, but the refracted colour.
-Faust II
