Lockdown Living: Greek Gods show how to thrive in this comic Quarantology series
From stocking up on toilet rolls to bad coiffure weeks, preening before Zoom calls to Youtube workout videos, virtual cocktail soirées and binge-watching in pjs, our Lockdown Lifestyle has been a great barometer of our human failings. As part of his assignment at Rhode Island’s School of Design on Art in Isolation, Jonathan Muroya drew divine inspiration from Greek Gods to create an illustrated series that is at once witty and relatable.
Credit: Jonathan Muroya
Narcissus stares a little too long at his reflection during a video call. Stuck at home, Medusa tries to cut her own unruly curls.
In his series Greek Quarantology, illustrator Jonathan Muroya recasts Greek gods and myths to creatively capture aspects of life during the pandemic.
Muroya says he asked himself three questions as he brainstormed ideas: What are people doing in quarantine? What are Greek characters known to do? Where can those two overlap?
Tantalus reaching for the last roll of toilet paper — just out his grasp — feels relatable after several months of pandemic life. Even muscle-bound Hercules uses exercise videos to stay fit in quarantine.
“Probably at my worst times I’m Jason on the couch in his golden fleece watching TV,” Muroya says. “Probably at my best, maybe Persephone, just wanting to be outside.”
Muroya researched and selected ancient Greek mythological characters who embodied a quality of quarantine life. He struggled with how to depict the Minotaur, a half-man and half-bull monster that was caged in a labyrinth. After a few adjustments, Muroya settled on a Minotaur working on a maze puzzle.
Muroya says that the pandemic hasn’t completely uprooted his daily routine. He spends a lot of time by himself, working on illustrations, as he did before the pandemic.
For most illustrators, says Muroya, there’s a part of them that “enjoys the solitude and just being in a room” with their work.
To see the animated gifs : https://www.npr.org
