Lauren Haldeman

@laurenhaldeman

I had been working on a book of poetry mixed with graphic novel sections when the pandemic hit, and I spent weeks in such a state of anxiety and high alert that I could no longer focus on that project or anything remotely complex. To ease the anxiety, I started drawing tiny, one-panel comics about small things that I was noticing or strange realizations I was having in quarantine. I enjoyed these, because it seemed like a low pressure endeavor in which I didn't feel the need to be such a "perfectionist" with my drawings (which was a relief.) I was drawing to break up the days and to make myself (and my kid) laugh. But when I started posting them on instagram, I noticed that other people really liked them too! So it became a sort of discourse with the outside world that felt bright to me during otherwise fretful, shadowy days of uncertainty and unknowing. The work makes me feel less alone.