Abandoned Craft Project

Proof that a lack of time was never the reason

In a year defined by crisis-fueled trends, none was more poignant than the brief, comet-like trajectory of the Pandemic Hobby. In March 2020, dozens of articles appeared online to remind everyone that Shakespeare wrote King Lear during a plague, and if they weren’t as productive as Shakespeare, what was even the point of living through a plague? Americans dutifully downloaded apps to learn Tagalog, watched YouTube tutorials on grouting tile floors, and spent hours coaxing lactic acid and yeast to chemically reproduce. This bedraggled craft project (provenance unknown) is representative of the typical result of these efforts. Its crude form and sloppy glue job serve as an astute reminder that artisanal bakeries, general contractors and Google Translate are all popular for a reason.