A Beijing-based artist is documenting each day in quarantine with detailed sketches, while a German opera singer is taking advantage of time with his family.
Both being confined to their homes since last Tuesday, baritone Michael Volle and artist Gareth Fuller have each been trying to stay positive throughout the isolation of enforced 14-day quarantine for coronavirus.
For Fuller, who is quarantined in his home in Beijing, his isolation instructions came unexpectedly when China’s quarantine regulations changed overnight while he was on a flight back from Kuala Lumpur.
“I found out about being quarantined in quite a haphazard way,” said Fuller. “I arrived home and I didn’t know anything about the need to be in quarantine until my local community person told me that I’d actually have to spend 14 days inside."
Originally planning to visit Shanghai for a drawing project, Fuller’s plans were put on hold. But the inconveniences of being quarantined haven't stopped him from drawing -- he's been chronicling his experience through intricate sketches and publishing them to Instagram.
“One of the biggest inconveniences is my inability to sit still,” said Fuller. “So what you see in those drawings is obviously a lot of fiction and imagination.”
Finding the small joys in being homebound -- like having his wife take out the trash -- the otherwise restless quarantine has sparked new-found creativity. “I think comedy can be one of the best tools we have in circumstances like this,” Fuller said.
He said while the first days of his drawings are upbeat, he's expecting the isolation to get harder as time goes on. Cups of tea and disaster planning are seen becoming essential parts of his day, as well as staring out the window.
Meanwhile baritone Volle, who had been working on a new production at Milan’s famed opera house Teatro Alla Scala, was informed that two of his colleagues had tested positive for coronavirus. Upon returning home to Germany, German health officials instructed Volle, his family and the family nanny to be tested and quarantined.
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“One day later, we got the good news that we are all negative,” Volle said. “But me, myself, because I am the person with the most difficult, dangerous aspects, I have to stay… at home in my current town because the symptoms could appear in the following days."
As Volle and his wife are both active opera singers, the forced time home brings some light to an otherwise serious situation.
“I’m glad about every second I can stay at home with my family, so it’s a gift somehow too,” Volle noted.
To check in on Volle and Fuller, you can find them on Instagram @michaelvolleofficial and @fuller_artist.
