Compassion Contagion

In its battle against Covid-19, India is witnessing a colossal humanitarian crisis. The lockdown has left thousands of people jobless and starving; many were forced to migrate back to the safety of their villages. In tackling the spread of the virus, the State has resorted to curbing citizen dissent and democratic voices; and deep rooted socio-political fissures of identity, religion and caste have surfaced once again. But in the midst of this 'slow death of democracy' we are witnessing the rise of ordinary active citizens across the country and their everyday acts of resilience and compassion. Interfaith dialogues through relief work, helplines to support migrants travel back home, fundraisers to support small vendors and businesses, a national network of animal feeders, community kitchens, support groups, people standing for each other, protesting, filing countless petitions…this human perseverance, which is building solidarities between common people and activists, artists, students, community leaders, government representatives, health workers, lawyers, warrants representation, because history will remember this moment as a turning point for citizenship action. 

“This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

~ Toni Morrison 

Compassion Contagion is an online archive led by a team of an activist and an artist that seeks to document acts of compassion and tell the story of how these experiences are fundamentally changing human behaviour. Through this we attempt to shift the narrative from ‘despair’ to one of ‘hope’. Over the last six months, we have interviewed a wide pool of relief workers, volunteers, grassroots workers, lawyers, farmers, journalists, ordinary citizens to understand their motivation to go ‘beyond the call of duty’ and how a new community driven by the passion to help, cutting across caste, class, religion, region is rapidly emerging in the face of this pandemic. We have translated these stories and experiences into art, poetry, collages and graphic narratives. Through our project, we wish to reimagine a future that is built on an ever expanding circle of compassion.

We would like to thank the University of York (Centre for Applied Human Rights) and the Open Society Foundations for supporting our project under Arctivists.