Crocodilian Zoom Call
- Kaaren Poole
- Nov 10
- 3 min read
I recently recorded and published my next episode of flip throughs of my art journal, and it happened that one of the four spreads I discussed was my all-time favorite. It brought back a flood of memories of the covid lockdowns. That’s not the reason it’s my favorite spread, though. It’s that the story it told was so intriguing and personal. Here’s the spread.
The crocodile from the Nile river valley, an alligator from the outskirts of the Everglades, and a gharial from the upper Indus river valley are just finishing one of their regular crocodilian Zoom calls. During the covid lockdowns, these calls have been a blessing, a relief from the loneliness imposed world-wide.
Here’s the text from the four text blocks on the spread:
“All through the past year, as the world hunkered in lockdown, their weekly Zoom calls had been a blessing. The group had developed a deep bond, sharing, and, depending on the fortunes of the past week, cycling through optimism, depression, hope, and despair, yet invariably coming out of each call better than they had gone into it. Today’s call had been magically restorative. But it was now time for the call to end.
“Croc, languishing on the lonely shore of Elephantine, a small island in the Nile lately devoid of visitors, quipped ‘See ya later, Alligator!’
“And Gator, hulking in his burrow at the edge of the Everglades, barred from his usual satisfying strolls through the nearby suburbs, answered as was customary. ‘After a while, Crocodile!’
“Then it was Gharial’s turn, secluded in an undisclosed location deep in the wilderness at the headwaters of the Indus river. He, as one of the few remaining individuals of his kind, had to be specially careful and was, therefore, specially lonely. “Wait! Wait! Can’t we stay a little longer?”
From a mixed media perspective, the spread is nearly completely collage but there’s perhaps one technique which is worth remarking upon. I worked the drawings on separate pieces of paper then tore them out, carefully and as close to the edges of the drawings as possible, to use as collage elements. But the unusual part is that once the collage was finished, I hid the white paper margins of the drawings by carefully painting them to integrate with whatever was behind them. I remember how taxing and tedious it was, but I think it was well worth it.
I treasure this piece because I think it’s well done, but also because it has historical significance: the poignant rendering of the emotions brought on by the loneliness of the lockdowns by a person who experienced them. This piece was created in February of 2021. This is one of my few spreads in which the text is as important, or even more important, than the images.
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