How many times have you seen “The New Normal” when reading anything COVID-19 related? It’s marketing’s newest catchphrase and the disposition of sometimes blithely indifferent politicians, but what is the new normal to you? For essential services providers it’s longer hours and heightened awareness, for a 9-5er it’s working from home and requiring a more stable internet connection for those Zoom meetings. How does the entertainment industry compare? It’s been one of the hardest hit and will take the longest to recover. For artists, the commodification of their work leaves little space to manoeuvre financially in a climate that has seen the prioritisation of “essential goods” over anything else. For our June issue, we asked artists and industry professionals to let us in to how it is that they’ve been affected by the pandemic. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be dropping personal essays from them on their journeys navigating this ‘new normal’ and the first one up is from Stogie T.
Cover design by Dumaza “Dome” Ndata
