“Chronicle of Coronavirus Time: Border Line Status of the Border Areas”

Briefly about the project: In mid-March 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a state of emergency was declared in the Baltic countries for almost two months with gradual introduction of quarantine measures: schools switched to distance learning, religious services were stopped, public events were prohibited, etc. Of course, this could not but affect both the usual lifestyle of each person, and the region society life in general. The medical problem has affected vulnerable groups of the population, has become a threat to the economy and business.
Unfortunately, COVID-19 is not giving up, the incidence of the disease is growing, and new victims appear regularly. In November 2020, new restrictions are imposed again: a state of emergency is imposed in Latvia, a national quarantine has been introduced in Lithuania, and new restrictions are also being introduced in Estonia.

The global COVID-19 spreading has certainly affected lives of all people, but in very different ways. We faced problems associated with isolation, limited availability of high-quality, complete, and reliable information, forced social distancing, changes to the usual lifestyles, loneliness, etc.
Some people, on the contrary, perceived the pandemic as a new turn, allowing to reconsider some aspects of their life and improve something.
The participants tried to convey through their photo stories the way the society reacts to the situation and perceives it, to show the changes that are on the way.
Photos were taken within the period from March to November 2020.
The exhibition venues (Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius) allow to draw the attention of the capitals’ dwellers to the problems of border areas.
The exhibition will also be useful for the researchers studying both the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis on society, and the existing segregation of communities in the Baltic States, as well as the ways of efficient integration for such communities.