El dolor en los tiempos del corona

“El dolor en los tiempos de Corona” was born from grief, shock, and helplessness. I had the fortune of working in an orphanage for former child soldiers in the region of Virunga National Park, in the Congo DRC. There, I listened to the stories of some of the most precious souls I have ever met — children and young people who had lived through the most horrific experiences imaginable, yet still carried warmth, humour, dignity, and smiles that taught me more about humanity than any book ever could.

While I was there, I was protected by a group of park rangers. They were extraordinary people — brave, generous, gentle. We shared cigarettes, coffee, long conversations, and stories late into the night. They became friends. They made me feel safe in a place where safety is never guaranteed.

During the COVID lockdown, while I was trapped alone in quarantine, I received a phone call. One of the rangers called to tell me that some of the people I had worked with — some of those same rangers — had been ambushed and killed in cold blood. That call destroyed me. There was nothing I could do. No way to travel. No way to mourn properly. No way to stand beside the people I cared about.

The only way I could cope was by painting. I took an old garden door and turned it into an act of remembrance. The skeleton dancing in this work is not about death as an ending, but about pain that keeps moving, pain that refuses to stay still. The red wound in the chest is raw and open — a heart torn by loss, still bleeding, still alive.

The title plays on Love in the Time of Cholera, because this painting speaks about how grief, like love, changes shape under extreme circumstances. “El dolor en los tiempos de Corona” is a homage to those who protected life with their own, to friendships cut short, and to the unbearable weight of loss experienced in isolation.

This work is for them. And for the pain that stayed with me when the world stopped, but violence did not.

"Technique painting: Acrylic, Oil, Chalk, Oil Pastels on recycled wood and spray paint on a recycled wood door 50cm" by 190cm"