A pandemic of creative loneliness

In this paper Iexplore the way everyday forms of creativity responded to the first wave of the coronavirus. I argue that these creative responses did two things. First, they demonstrated the rich agency that ordinary people have in shaping and sharing their experience of lonely isolation. Second, through the creative works generated and circulated, a critical lens was placed on the way that the pandemic carried forward the inequalities inherent in modern systems of governance. The article is divided into two main sections: the first looks at a range of creative works made by ordinary people to reconnect them to the social world. The second section looks at the creative works that were explicitly politicized and activist in nature, turning loneliness into a political project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)