To whom it may concern, my name is Merih Akman and I'm a preschool teacher in Italy, in lockdown since the last week of February. I'm more than pleased to share my quarantine art project with you. These endless weeks of lockdown have made me think about what I miss most and what I took for granted so far in my life. I also felt the urge to get in touch with friends who live far away, but writing simple letters or e-mails didn’t satisfy my need to touch them. I was also inspired by an Instagram account where the account owner published shopping lists he found in supermarket carts. I was stunned by how everybody tries to put “themselves” in these lists: they rarely are mere lists of things to buy: you can “read” the person through their calligraphy, tiny doodles they make, or funny comments like “Don’t buy crap!”. I wondered: how do we make lists? How do we represent ourselves in such an anonymous medium? Initially I asked them to share a list of seven things that they crave most, that they miss or took for granted so far like I did. Later on, I decided to embroider them on pieces of fabric which look like paper and I’ve mailed these list to them. The reason why I I decided to embroider these lists was to leave written trace of the beauty that these difficult times have made us embrace, other than pain and loss of acquaintances, friends, family and much more.
 Here's the initial description of my project:  Hello everyone, these days of mysterious suspension from “normal” life, during which shopping lists and illustrated self-certificates (is that even a word?) are circulating on IG, I have been thinking about our common use of list-making. Aren’t we all making imaginary or concrete lists, in a way? Be it about the groceries you need to buy, things and people you’re craving, the places you’d like to visit in this marvellous planet as soon as we get back to life… Like an Amazon cart of life. My question is: what do you love most about yourself/life? What do you miss? Where would you rather be right now? Send me a list of 7 objects, names or whatever you think is best via DM or in the comments below. I have received more than 200 orders in three weeks and I’m in constant touch with people from around the world. So far I’ve mailed to the US, Italy, France, Germany, New Zealand, Turkey, The UK, Netherlands, and many more countries. You may find my work here: https://www.instagram.com/seventhingsaboutme/ Here's an article that talks about my project: http://www.unduetrestellababy.com/blog/2020/5/4/seven-things-about-me-by-merih-akman Later this week an interview will be published on pressenza.com Thank you very much for your time, Merih Akman