Corona in the City

Taal voor Loneliness is a program by social designer Madelinde Hageman made to discuss loneliness. It is part of Platform voor Eenzaamheid, where several artists show new ways to break the taboo on loneliness. During Covid-19, Madelinde, in collaboration with design anthropologist Tina Lenz, conducted the Taal voor Eenzaamheid program in Hebron community center. There, a new series of artistic expressions were created together with local residents. The images are results of this collaboration. They did this on behalf of Buurthulp-West- Protestant Diaconie.

Framer Framed has been working with Tina Lenz and Madelinde Hageman since 2019 in various projects, which always take inclusion, participation, personal and artistic development as a starting point.

The entire result of the project is designed into a booklet and can be viewed from this link.

Image description from left to right:

1. New word for loneliness

Consider a personal situation where you felt lonely during the COVID-19 months. Think of a new self-invented word that fits your story. A sound, a combination of two words or a fantasy word. If there was literally more language for solitude, would it be possible to talk about this in a more nuanced way?

2. Write a letter to loneliness

If loneliness was a person, what would you write to her or him? The salutation becomes “Dear loneliness,. And what do you want to say?

3. Recipe to make solitude

What ingredients does your loneliness consist of? Think about the type of food you associate with loneliness. Which ingredients and how many grams of what is in the recipe? Is it sadness, pain, cold, or warmth and love?

4. Object of comfort in loneliness

What object gives you comfort when you are at home and feeling lonely? You are in your own environment and you look around you in your mind. Continue through your house and keep looking. Do you see objects, places or rituals that you find comfort in? Maybe it is related to something you care for or enjoy doing.

5. A handful of loneliness

What if your loneliness could fit in your hand? What would it look like? Think about the size, shape and colors of your loneliness. Is it something recognizable? Is it a memory or an expression of a feeling?

 6. Keep your loneliness burned

What do you want to burn off from your loneliness the most? And what would you like to cherish, keep and take home with you? Paint the two wooden tablets. The tablet you want to keep becomes a painting to hang. We throw the other one into a fire. Are you sure you want to burn it?

“Ema” are small wooden tablets used in Japan to write down prayers and wishes. It is a way of communicating wishes to priests and spirits. On special occasions, the emas are ritually burned as a symbol that the writer has been freed from his wish.

 7. Keep your loneliness burned

Just for you alone.

To take home, just for you.

Image credit: Madelinde Hageman and Tina Lenz

by Madelinde Hageman, Tina Lenz