Hello and welcome to aknownspace. It has been a tough winter, (and year) for us all, as we continue to battle the lasting effects of the pandemic and confinement which about now, (March) marks its first anniversary. Emerging as a deadly, tangible social disease, the COVID pandemic unraveled many flailing threads of our collective anthropological battle against sicknesses which we are in the process of comprehending. Many individuals first hand experienced the deadly physiological impacts of the virus, while others were affected by the significant sociological side effects of isolation and dissociation. Meanwhile, large scale disruptions to our ecosystems in the form of dangerous consumer practices and unforgiving emission levels continue to reify and reinforce current and future risks to our societies. 5 years ago, as I submitted my master thesis, the world would cross the average 400 ppm mark on emissions. I remember the all too familiar anxiety I experienced back then; a mixture of work-related stress and crippling worries about the state of affairs of our world and crumbling society. As an individual, I often feel vitiated against the grand scale of the complex mélange (khichdi; see also the fable of Birbal's khichdi) of problems. To some extent, creating and trying to regulate this space has helped me gather and try to create communities, a process which has been important for me to try to stay in touch with people that matter to me. Bringing together the imagination and views of people on issues has been an enjoyable process and it has been my wish that I can engage in creative processes and build meaningful relationships with everyone who has contributed to aknownspace, by learning more about them and allowing them to learn more about me. I also wish for others to engage in creative therapeutic processes by allowing them to direct their independent editions of work together with contributors and friends, a project which has worked really well as Lucas successfully  garnered and assimilated contributions while I struggled with my personal deadline for January. I am sure Lucas would be very happy to receive contributions from anyone who wishes to contribute to his edition but hasn't done so yet. I will soon hand over the reins of the website to him for when he wishes to upload the content online!

For now, here is the second edition, true to kachua fashion (delayed), but hopefully full of heart and solidarity. 

Below is a photo of my wall, which I have been building as a form of recuperative therapy with art in the form of greeting cards, posters, messages with which I am trying to reconnect with my feelings and create fun narratives. I hope you enjoy reading what we have put together in this edition, and will write to me/ writers about your thoughts, questions, ideas.

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Much love,

Sana