A Mother Uses Art to Alleviate Her Sons' Pandemic Fears

Work and life have never been closer together for the Italian photographer Elisabetta Zavoli, as the coronavirus pandemic has made her children subjects and collaborators in her art.

[music]- [Woman] Our appointment in the night,actually became thecentral moment of our days.We started to elaborate theweirdness of the situation.It was really a mental health aid for me.The idea of this projectthat came from my sons.We started from theirfeelings about the quarantine.Especially my youngest one,who is eight years old.In Italy when children pickup much more than we think,we used to say that they have long ears.[foreign language]So he got information about how fastthe virus was spreading, howmany people died in China.And I say to him, "Luca,being scared is okay, I mean,it's human, it's normalin certain situation,but we can try to acceptit and to smooth itwith our relationship, with our love.Momma will do everything to protect you."When you are scared of somethingyou tend to hide yourself from the world.But still you want to seewhat is going on outside.All the pictures are shotat night in the garden.If you compare darknesswith any bad situationin which you can findyourself in your life,you can think of colorsas the silver linings.I think it's a matter of attitude,I wasn't aware of this,it is something that grew inside methrough the passing of time.In any bad situation I can,and I will try to findthe positive aspects.It will help you not falling into despair.My life before was likemany other lives today,was very scheduled based,without even the time of lookingat each other as human beings.The very silver liningsfor me of this quarantineis to be able to reconnectwith my sons in a deeper way.For example the oldestone, who is 11 years old,he starts to be in his pre-adolescence.These are really the last years,the last months, in which Ican enjoy their childhood.So I'm really grateful for having,being able to be fullymyself together with them.[kids giggling][plates drop]