Isolation has been a recurrent theme that has occupied our lives for the past few years. Coming from two entirely different cultures and parts of the world – one artist from Iran and one artist from Ontario – we both moved to Saskatoon and had to navigate an unfamiliar city during the isolation of the pandemic. While our experiences have been vastly different, we have come to find that we share a lot of similarities in our experiences as well. Working through these comparisons, we created an installation that depicts a collaborative journal of experiences within Saskatoon. Layered with both visual and textual information including drawings, written excerpts, mementos, and photos, we invited viewers to explore the city through our perspectives. While journals are usually quite private in nature, this installation uses the journal as a means to generate a sense of togetherness in sharing these experiences with each other as well as with the community after these long periods of isolation. 
 
Our text, images, and drawings were layered on translucent paper to mimic the stacked pages of a journal without requiring the viewer to flip the pages. Emphasizing the idea that journals are usually very personal, the surrounding area was kept dim and viewers were provided with flashlights to allow for closer connections with the work. Viewers were encouraged to navigate through the installation and explore the text, images, and drawings that occupy the pages of our collective journal. The text, images, and drawings were scattered relatively randomly throughout the panels with ample negative space in between so as to not reveal all the information at once and encourage viewers to explore the entirety of the installation. Both sides of the panels contained different information, and with the panels being translucent, some information became reversed, blurred, or concealed to demonstrate the uncertainty of our own experiences.