Aerial Patchwork

Kia Ora from Aotearoa, New Zealand.

I’ve created Aerial Patchwork because I want to know what life is like for people in the wake of Covid-19, in as many places and from as many viewpoints as possible.

So often we get a singular view of the world, tailored to our profiles like a seamless blanket. The Canterbury Plains where I grew up are often referred to as a ‘patchwork quilt’, the many shapes and textures of the fields pieced together from above. That’s how I see this project.

Patches can take the form of anything I can upload to this website. Essays, interviews, artwork, poems, photos, stories, songs. From wherever you are, doing whatever you do. They do not have to be literary.

If you have a patch you would like to contribute, or a unique view I could interview you about, please email me: annajdelany@gmail.com

Ngā mihi,

RESIN / Introduction

What does now look like from above? What shape is it taking? This brief essay introduces Aerial Patchwork while considering the Vesuvius resin woman, Big History, and human intimacy on the eve of the national lockdown in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Nora Lanari, 9/5

UK/Switzerland/NZ

On Productivity

Researcher Nora Lanari is well-suited to working from home, but in her newly adopted home at the other end of the world, motivation seems hard to come by. 'COVID-19 doesn’t pose an existential threat to me or my loved ones, not in health or economic terms, unlike so many others. How then can I claim crisis mode for myself?'

Ruth Weyman, 7/5

Ghost Lit

Ruth Weyman was on the brink of returning to her job as a producer after a year's maternity leave. Covid-19 has left her in a limbo, while theatres all around the world have gone dark.

Phil Jacobsen, 27/4

Utah & Antarctica

3+7=Cat: Lessons from the South Pole

Antarctic dishwasher Phil Jacobsen was two hours from dying due to lack of breath in a deeply isolated place where everyone dons a mask and gloves to survive. Because he listened to his friend, Donald. His advice? Don’t listen to Donald. Plus his top ten experience-based tips for surviving life in isolation.

Lucy Marx, 26/4

Dust Music

'A year ago, this is when we would have started flocking to the beach, seizing this extra gift of a holiday that comes just before the pounding, oppressive heat of summer.' writes Lucy Marx from curfew in Cairo, a city made strangely silent, aside from one rogue song.

Locked Down

A short poem captures the repetitive rhythms of the lockdown at a particular moment.

Space Enough

In the tranquil quiet of lockdown, a woman is granted space to think about something long left alone. 'It’s always there like something down in the basement that you never take out and look at but sometimes you stumble across.'

Al Bahah region, Saudi Arabia

Preserve the Heart

From initial terror, to a calmer view thanks to the post-apocalyptic movie 'Bird Box', as well as through her faith, Samiyah charts the changes her immediate world has undergone.

Vicky Warren, 26/4

North Norfolk, UK

High Speed Routes

Writer Vicky Warren returned to the UK the day a global pandemic was declared by WHO, and promptly fell ill. She tells the story of millions of travellers whose routes home were also those of the virus. As she returns to her village, a quiet devastation unfolds.