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Collected Item: “Views From Quarantine”

Give your story a title.

Views From Quarantine

What sort of object is this: text story, photograph, video, audio interview, screenshot, drawing, meme, etc.?

Photo Story

Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you.

On September 3, 2020, I was notified by a friend that I had come in close contact with someone who had tested positive for COVID-19. I then spent the next 14 days in quarantine, not once leaving my room. Since I live and work in the Taylor Place dorms, I immediately notified the community directors and was placed in a quarantine dorm where I could be separated from my roommate. Despite testing negative for COVID-19 and not having any symptoms, I still needed to quarantine for 14 days as a precaution according to ASU Health Services.

Being confined by empty white walls and only being able to see slivers of the sky made the loneliness even more apparent. Although my camera was the first thing I packed, it took me until the ninth day to find the motivation to pick it up. I began photographing the things I could see from my dorm or my “Views from Quarantine.” Using a long lens, I had residents pose in their windows in ways that expressed their personalities. With every photo, I felt less and less alone.

I began to realize how important it is for people to see what it meant to quarantine in the dorms. So I also began photographing my meals and room. At the end of it, I put together a photo story, “Views from Quarantine,” that was published in The State Press. It is probably one of my proudest accomplishments so far.

Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your story. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?

#REL101

Enter a URL associated with this object, if relevant.

https://www.statepress.com/article/2020/09/gallery-views-from-quarantine

Who originally created this object? (If you created this object, such as photo, then put "self" here.)

Samantha Chow

Give this story a date.

2020-09-27
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