No one on the island by Astrid Mendez

“Drawing inspiration from John Donne’s poem, “No man is an island,” this creative exploration portrays the incoherence of the individualist ideology which COVID-19 outbreak has unveiled. Since “we are involved in mankind” all human needs have the same weight. A clod is to a continent like a person’s death is to a loss.

The storytelling questions western hegemony, hyper-individualism, capitalism and one of the most harmful contagions: lack of empathy.

The lockdown triggered in me several questions about human nature and our interdependence with the rest of the species and ecosystems. As an artist I feel it’s my responsibility to expose the hidden and denied chapters of our personal and shared narratives.”