We have all experienced the life-altering affects by the pandemic. In THIS INTERVIEW you’ll learn its toll on prolific visual artist Mila Lynn.
The nationally and internationally acclaimed creator and painter took time to answer our “2000 BC Q&A”, reflecting on her life before COVID-19 and how things have changed personally and professionally since.
Tell us what you miss most from life before COVID-19.
Ooooooo… I miss concerts and large events, huge gatherings. The energy when you’re around a ton of people, you can’t compare it to anything else. But I specifically miss concerts. I miss being in a crowd with like 3,000 people all yelling the same thing and being hyped about the same person!
Where were you when you learned about COVID-19 and how did you respond?
I heard about it when I was in London.
My ex, my boyfriend at the time, was watching the news and he said to me, “Do you see this?! A whole bunch of people are dying in China!” I was like, oh, the news, here we go again. And I just kind of brushed it off. Then I realized people were really passing away every day, and I had a girlfriend that was in China. She’s actually still in China now.
So, I was trying to contact her, but the contact was shaky because some of the apps we use don’t translate into Chinese. And I couldn’t get in contact with her and started freaking out! I finally talked to her for maybe 2 minutes at the end of January. She was in Thailand and said it wasn’t as bad where she was. That was the last heard from her for a while. So, we didn’t think anything of it.
When I was preparing to come back to the U.S. at the end of February I started noticing all the flight restrictions, like needing a mask. My flight back was only 30% capacity. That was shocking to me because whenever I go back and forth to London it’s always a full plane. People really weren’t traveling.
When we got to the airport they were definitely profiling people, pulling them aside and making them go through extra hoops. They doublechecked us when we were trying to leave the airport. It was very uncomfortable. Two weeks after I got back, quarantine broke out and the world was shutting down!
What, for you, have been the personal and professional benefits, and setbacks, from the pandemic?
Honestly, COVID was a win. Not from a health aspect, but with any sort of situation you get to determine whether you’re going to sink or swim. I came back just wanting to go hard with my business. This was the climate I had to come back in to. Nobody had shit to do, so what are you going to give them?
All the content creators won if they got ahead of the curve because now you have everyone’s attention, so do something with it! The losing out portion of it was not being able to get in-person with people. My business thrives on having interpersonal connections, so when I can’t do that anymore or it has to be through a digital space, it’s a bit weird. But there was no way I was not going to win! It wasn’t an option.
Do you have faith in the vaccine?
Oh. [Laughs] Well, I have faith that it will do exactly what they tell you it will do. You can get the vaccine and you can still get COVID, you can still pass from COVID, but hopefully you’ll have less of a reaction. With any new medical practices there needs to be some data.
I’m in my late 20s. Hopefully I still have 40+ years to live. It makes sense for people in their late 60s to get it because they may not have as much time left. And what if there’s a long-term effect that effects the younger people of today once they’re in their 40s, 50s, and 60s? We don’t know because we don’t have the data.
Make the best decision for you. To each their own. I think it’s going to do what they say it’s going to do.
Who do you talk to the most to keep your spirits up and help you stay optimistic?
Mmm… My inner demons. [Laughs] I’m just kidding!
I have a really good group of people around me. I don’t really know why they’re around me, but I’m supported by a lot of people that are loving. My friends. My parents are two of the most amazing people I know. And for different periods during this journey I have specific people I need to go to.
When I’m having a shitty day for this reason, this is the person I talk to. If I need some business advice and I don’t know what’s going on, this is the person I talk to. Everybody fulfills a need, right? And vice versa too. I hope I’m there for the people who need me.
Has the pandemic caused you to value your life and the lives of others more than you did already?
I don’t think so. I started experiencing death from a very young age. I’ve always been cognizant that today could be my last day, tomorrow could be somebody else’s last day, and I try to live my life as vibrantly as I can because of those circumstances. This wasn’t a shock to me as much as it was a wakeup call to other people.
There’s all types of things that could happen, and we hope that they don’t, but you have to make the best of everything – pandemic or not.
What about your immediate surroundings have you become more aware of?
I feel like I’ve been way more in tune with people’s energy lately. That’s probably because we spent so much time apart. I always felt like I could pick up on vibes and things, but now it’s like I’m way more in tune with it!
I can tell if someone is having an off day. I can tell if people are being shady. I tell people all the time energy doesn’t lie. I’m highly aware of people’s energy. Also, being in the creative space, me and a lot of my co-creatives are aware that we can create the energy of a space. We set the tone. People are looking to you for how they should feel.
If you look like you don’t feel like you’re having a good time, then everyone around will be like, oh shit, maybe we shouldn’t be having a good time, or something must be going wrong.
I just became more aware of my energy and other people’s energy.
What’s something that had to change because of the pandemic that you hope doesn’t change back once it’s over?
Part of me wants to not be cynical and say people care more now, or people seem to care more, and I really hope that doesn’t change. I feel like people try to be more respectful. With everything that happened with the riots and protests, people had more conversations. People are communicating more.
It doesn’t mean people are agreeing more. It doesn’t mean it’s always positive or it’s always negative, but there’s a lot of conversations that were never being had that are being had now. If we come to the understanding that you and I don’t agree on something, sometimes that might be okay. I don’t know if that’s necessarily something that’s for everybody, but I just think people are communicating more.
I always think that communication is good. |THIS.
[By M.J. Walker]
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