Coronavirus: animation made with matches raises awareness of social distancing

Art, in its different expressions, is often an infallible vehicle to communicate a message or an idea. In the middle of the pandemic, a particular work made with matches managed to transmit to millions of people the importance of staying home to avoid more infections and deaths from COVID-19.

The artist Juan Delcan and his wife, Valentina Izaguirre, They made a video of just 12 seconds, which shows, in a simple row of matches, how the individual responsibility.

The message is simple: in front of a row in which all the wooden lights are lit due to the proximity with the others, one decides move away so as not to catch fire. That is to say, each one must become aware and be that match that takes distance before being infected.

The idea of ​​creating the piece with matches came after the American president Donald trump declared a national emergency to curb the spread of coronavirus, moment in which the artist couple, who lives in the United States, began quarantine at home.

“Before the coronavirus, we had made stories with matches with the idea of ​​contagion of love or anger, but never with the disease,” Delcan told The nation. A day after the presidential speech, they published the animation on their social networks and it went viral.

Due to the repercussion that the video had on a global level, the visual artists received media contacts from all over the world. “They sent us political messages and American governors, members of the United Nations, the president of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention gave the video as an example,” said Delcan.

“Contacted people with a lot of power, but what has touched us the most and matters to us is, for example, the case of a teacher from the India who worked with boys in a kindergarten. He told us that the children he cares for they could understand the piece for its simplicity “, added.

Following the saga with matches, the couple also shared in their account Instagram a video dedicated to doctors and health personnel facing the coronavirus.