From vibrators to DIY gym weights, people around the world shared photos of the 15 'essentials' they used to cope early in the pandemic
- In 2020, ethnographer Paula Zuccotti asked people to share photos of 15 "essential" lockdown items.
- She compiled more than 1,000 photos from people in 50 countries into a project called Future Archaeology of a Global Lockdown.
- Photos of booze, sex toys, and makeshift weights show how people's habits shifted amid COVID-19.
In April 2020, while stuck at home in London under lockdown, ethnographer Paula Zuccotti found herself relying on new objects around her house, like a kettle ball for exercise and wine for relaxation.
After realizing how the objects she reached for at home reflected her change in lifestyle, Zuccotti was inspired to ask other people around the world to reflect on the objects they were using around the house, she told Insider.
On April 24, 2020, she posted a photo of the 15 items she deemed essential in lockdown to Instagram and invited her followers to do the same using the hashtag #EveryThingWeTouchCovidEssentialsX15.
Over the year, more than 1,000 people from 50 countries have shared images with Zuccotti, like Laura Maggi, a journalist from Milan, Italy, whose lockdown essentials included chocolate, tea, and daily beauty-care items like sheet masks.
Zuccotti published the images people submitted as a searchable database last month.
Called Future Archaeology of a Global Lockdown, Zuccotti's image collection includes people's photos of their 15 essential items, plus captions that they wrote and shared with Zuccotti.
The pictures of people's collections of household objects capture how their habits changed as a result of the pandemic, Zuccotti told Insider.
While the images span the globe, Zuccotti received a large number of submissions from Argentina, her native country, and the United Kingdom, where she lives currently, she wrote in her project summary.
Matt Shunshin and his wife relied on gin and a stuffed pig to adapt to their new lives. Shunshin, a London cardiologist, tended to patients in COVID-19 wards, and his wife worked from home with their toddler.
As part of Zuccotti's project, Shunshin wrote that he had gin on hand for when he came back from his shifts and that the stuffed pig "distracts our 1-year-old long enough for [my wife] to have a cup of tea or a Zoom call."
As offices, schools, and event venues closed down, people like Agustina Hassenbruk from Misiones, Argentina, relied on laptops for both work and entertainment.
Hassenbruk, who attends the Universidad Nacional de Misiones, used her computer to attend virtual classes and "watch series and movies ad nauseam," she wrote in her description of the items.
Zuccotti told Insider that laptops, tablets, and headphones are among the items that appear most often in the collection.
Sharon from Manila, Phillippines, used her laptop for at-home karaoke.
"Karaoke, a favorite Filipino pastime, moved in-home on Zoom as bars were closed," Zuccotti wrote in her project description. "Later, the government banned the in-home version too, as it considered the noise to infringe curfew hours."
Unable to go to the gym, Martín Genero from Santa Fe, Argentina, created a makeshift barbell by attaching six water bottles filled with sand to the ends of a pole.
Lockdown was "at first, something strange and messy," Genero wrote for Zuccotti's project.
"But with time I got used to it," Genero continued. "I started to see the positive side and realized that I could do more productive things if I organized my time."
Noticeably absent were objects like lipstick, high heels, and handbags, Zuccotti said. Instead, people like Iara Banchik from Buenos Aires, Argentina, resorted to more comfortable clothes, like socks and slippers.
"I haven't worn shoes for several weeks," Banchik wrote of their essential objects. "I usually get up half asleep and grab the socks I find."
Before the pandemic, Buenos Aires resident Silvana Ovsejevich only wore leggings for exercise, but during lockdown, incorporated them into her daily routine.
"Now it's the only thing I use, at home and when I go out. Comfortable and very easy to wash," she wrote of leggings, which are included in her picture of objects.
People also invested in self-care. Rino Goto from Tokyo, Japan, wrote that she used white sage to cleanse her room and matcha to "maintain a well-balanced mind."
Goto was not alone.
"Needing to relax and needing to escape or entertain yourself was universal to everyone," Zuccotti told Insider of her analysis of people's essential items.
Maria Belen Morales from Quito, Ecuador, used a shamanic drum and Agua de Florida, a perfume water, for healing rituals.
Morales also added sweet herbs to her baths to help release body tension, she said in the description of her 15 essential items.
Some people picked up new hobbies. Sonia Wang from Taipei, Taiwan, wrote that she borrowed a paintbrush from her mom because she always wanted to paint like her.
Wang also included a plant in her photo to show that she learned to take care of her plants in 2020, she wrote in her description.
Chris Butler from Portland, Oregon, counted a stand mixer among his essential items and said he and his family spent their time in lockdown baking.
"Our cookies, bread, and banana bread-game is real," Butler said of his quarantine baking hobby.
Other photos reflect major events that were happening in a country. For instance, Kevin Katsura from Buenos Aires was one of several Argentinians to include mosquito repellant among their essentials.
"In Argentina, mosquito repellent tells us how the country was fighting COVID-19 and Dengue at the same time," Zuccotti wrote in her project description.
Zuccotti told Insider that overall she was surprised by how honest and vulnerable people were, like Naitiemu Nyanjom from Nairobi, Kenya, who included a pink vibrator among their essentials.
"People weren't afraid to say 'I can't sleep,' 'I'm afraid,' or 'sometimes I feel lost,' or 'here is my pillow because I sleep all day,'" Zuccotti said.
"Everyone was in the same boat," she said. "So there was no point of hiding."
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