Maria (Russia): “We were completely unprepared for this. Emotionally it was a complete shock to me. The worst thing is the uncertainty. For a long time I did not accept this situation. Emotions, tears, over-sensitivity and even depression. Then at some point it became easier. We realised, accepted and began to learn to live in new conditions”.

Alejandro (Mexico):“We live on different continents and the only way to meet her was long trip by plane. In March I made the arrangement to get the Russian visa. I was expecting to travel on March 25. The day I went to pick up my passport at the Russian embassy the government of Russia sent the order to cancel all visas and put stamp “Cancelled” on my visa. They said the Russian embassy will return to work on June 1, but they didn’t open and the pandemic still growing on my continent. It has been a mix of emotions, distance, anger, sadness, love, fear, fighting, but all these emotions made our relationship stronger”.

Shannon (Germany): ”We have been either on some sort of lockdown in Germany or in anticipation of a lockdown since mid-March. Kurt is currently in the US as we have been living separately due to varying job situations. His job was to have relocated him permanently to Germany this summer and this has been postponed. We celebrated our 20th anniversary in April, separated by this situation. The US closed the borders first, and I had been scheduled to fly to the US on April 3. We understood in advance that that was unlikely to happen, and I was very disappointed. Kurt is an excellent father and I know it hurts him not to be with his children. He normally is here once per month, and he has cancelled three trips already because of this situation".

Kurt (USA): ”I was very surprised to know that the borders are closed.  First global pandemic that I have ever experienced and I had never seen the world take the actions that it did. Sad to not spend time with both my wife and children for a few months, but I believed it would not be too long. We communicate couple of times a day via FaceTime, share experiences with an exercise video.  Daily Skype sessions are also helpful.

Ekaterina (Russia): “I live in St.Petersburg, Russia, my partner in Finland, in Helsinki region. We haven’t seen each other since beginning of March, and for the moment don’t know when we meet next time, as borders are still closed from both sides. We try to support each other every day, talking in messenger, in video calls….it s incredible that being on distance just 3 hrs by fast train, we can’t meet. We love each other and want to become family when borders open. Hope virus will go away soon and we can proceed our dreams and plans come true”.

Ilkka (Finland): “Finland closed its borders March 19th, both our countries are on lockdown. I felt annoyed when I read it from newspapers. It’s been quite clear that Fin-Rus border is closed and “regular” people won’t be able to travel through, especially not married and therefore cannot even apply on reuniting family grounds. Now we are more determined to be together and moved to more serious level of relationships. Without being held apart like this, it would have been easy to keep seeing each other 2-3 times a month, but now we are determined to unite our lives”.

Irina (Russia): “We have been together for a year and a half, five months of which are in quarantine. We met on the tatami, our acquaintance began with a fight. We went to the same Brazilian Jiu Jitsu club in Stockholm. We planned to get married in May, but the quarantine changed our plans. I learned about the closure of borders from the media. At first there was no fear, it seemed to me that this would be a short-term measure and would not affect our plans. For the first time, it became scary when politicians began to talk about opening the borders no earlier than 2021. I understood that some exceptions would have to be made for family situations, but so far, according to the documents, we are not even relatives. But after accepting reality as it is, it became easier. We'll get married as soon as we meet”.

Alexander (Sweden): “In my opinion, this situation has strengthened our relationship, making it even clearer to understand how much we love each other. We found new forms of interaction - computer games, bedtime reading, online breakfasts, performing concerts for each other on the guitar and piano”

Anna (Russia): “I’m in Russia, my husband is in Ecuador. We haven’t seen each for 5 months. Both countries were under a strict quarantine. From July Ecuador receives international fights, but from Moscow I can not fly there. Layover is in Europe where Russians can’t enter for now. We are together more than 3 years, we met in Antarctica during an international art project Antarctic Biennale. I was director and producer of the project and Paul was an invited artist. We just got married in the end of this February. Our family life was about to start. Instead of a honeymoon we got to this historical global lockdown”.

Paul (Ecuador): “I was shooting a new film in the Azores islands, when the USA closed their borders and a few days later Ecuador announced the same. So, I had to cancel the next days of my shooting and changed my flight to get back before the closing of the airport in Quito (Ecuador) by midnight on March 15th. After more than 30 hours in four flights, I arrived around 7pm. My flight was one of the latest to land that night… We watch movies and series together... we press the play button at the same time, so we watch stuff in sync. And we have “dates”.

Anita (Germany): “I am in Germany, Cologne, and the lockdown has been eased since the Middle of May, but my country still does not allow loved ones – who are Non-EU- citizens- to enter. We met in Panama early last year. It was pretty much love at first sight even though I really didn't want a long-distance relationship. But I couldn’t help it, so we met again in Europe and then we went to travel together through Costa Rica. He wanted to spend this summer with me in Germany. But the lockdown came first. I was so scared, that it would break us apart. I wrote to the embassy. We considered getting married, but the embassy does not even accept visa applications until now. We`ve started to learn German on the phone which gives us a goal and is something we can actually influence. It makes me feel a little less lost and helpless. I can say, I became more aware of why I love him so much, beyond all borders”.

Osvaldo (Panama): “First I heard that the US closed the borders, shortly after I came back home from vacations with her in Costa Rica, after that the whole world closed. I was not scared, because I thought it wasn't gonna be longer than a couple of weeks. She was scared and I just tried to calm her down. We have become closer in the way that this situation has managed to bring forward our true colours, which has made us get to know more about each other, and has enabled us to deal with it. Anyway I love her more every new day and I´m so happy she is in my life even though I can´t touch or smell her. It takes more than this dumb politics and boundaries to break what is between us, which I honestly think is unbreakable. We sing songs, I sometimes wait on the phone until she falls asleep, always joke around and take time to make her laugh a lot”. 

Alistair (Australia): “I am stuck in Australia, unable to move forward on our plans for me to move to Belgium to live with my boyfriend. Being in a mostly long-distance relationship since the beginning, we have grown somewhat used to not seeing each other in person for months at a time. It’s hard, but I think what makes it ok is making sure we have a date to countdown to when we will see each other again. Not having that certainty in this time is the hardest part for me. My emotions have been all over the place- I’ve suffered from mild depression, I’ve gained some weight and just generally found myself pulling away from even my relationships here. I’ve become less than myself. Both Eric and I have tried calling, emailing and tweeting various politicians, government departments and embassies, advocating for our case. We were really hopeful looking forward to the EU Commission announcing a list of safe countries that Europe would open its borders to on the 1st of July. But Belgium have decided against following these recommendations. Any responses we’ve had back have been generic mass-emails that give only empty platitudes and no real sense of empathy for our situation.”.

Eric (Belgium): “I met Alistair in Sydney and have been an official couple since February 2019. In the beginning it was not that bad. We’ve spent a few months without each other in the past. However, when the months started to pass and Alistair had to postpone his flight in June, it became clear that living together in Antwerp (I’m still moving into our apartment in a few days) was going to be a big challenge. Especially the last 2 to 3 months have been very hard, both emotionally and psychologically. I have trouble sleeping, feel stressed all the time, and have been crying on several occasions. Australia is still sealed off from the world and has said they will not allow non-Australians back into the country until at least the start of 2021. For this reason Belgium has decided, against the recommendations of the European Commission, to treat Australia in the same way. Their official statement is that because of a lack of “reciprocity”. Australians are not allowed into the country. Only communicating through technology for the past 6 months has been driving me crazy. Bad connections can really ruin the mood and make things unnecessarily hard.”

Alena (Russia): “I’ve learned about closed borders from the news. I wasn’t scared for the first time, but I asked Davide to wear a mask from the very beginning. The fear appeared later when I mistakenly read in the news that Italy and Russia could resume communication only in 2021. I cried bitterly. But there is an understanding of the very high risk of becoming infected with Covid-19. Even in Moscow I rarely leave my home, perhaps ones in 3 weeks or so. I would like to feel the illusion of greater security when the new safety rules pass the test of effectiveness. I feel responsibility for my life, for Davide and our parens with whom we communicate. We developed a ritual to do yoga together at 8 p.m. As fans of Baroque, we also tried to play Bach together, he is on the flute, I am on the piano, but the Internet interferes with synchronisation. We prepare art projects together and develop a strategy for our future together. I dream often just to hug him and think about examples of Victor Frankl and Primo Levi.”

Davide (Italy): “Since February, when we met last time and at the same time started to explode the epidemic in Italy, I realised that something serious was happening and probably for a long time we could have difficulties to meet again. In the following two weeks there were news of restriction for Italian visitors by different countries and of course I was scared. However, when the real closure of borders happened the second week of March, it seemed to me something obvious and banal, because Italy was yet since days on strict lockdown, each movement was prohibited except those for necessities of work and healthcare. I thought it was the right thing to do because at that time movements were dangerous and I hoped that in few months the situation would return to normality, looking at the official statistics of China. Our relationship began epistolary, then we physically met, but living at 2400 km distance, we used since always to have a distance relationship and to carry on our story using online communication. Now we make yoga together (online), play music, look and discuss concerts, operas and ballets on streaming etc.”

Anton (Germany): “I read about border closings in an online newspaper. There was no fear, because I thought that the borders would open within a month. I did not suppose that the German government would leave the borders closed for so long without reason. I felt frustrated, angry and disappointed, because we have just begun to get closer and closer to each other and we may be stopped by circumstances that we cannot influence. I am angry, because border closures only make sense when the virus hasn't crossed them. I'm still furious with the idiotic closure of borders, regardless of the epidemiological situation in a foreign region - why the hell can I safely return from London but not from Istanbul without a mandatory two-week quarantine? Our relations are rapidly developing in the right direction, but I cannot say how much this is related to the situation. At least the situation did not harm our relationship. But perhaps they would be even more intense if we continued to meet once or twice a month.”

Inna (Russia): “The news about travel ban was not unexpected for us, everything happened gradually. We knew that this would definitely happen, but we did not expect how long this ban might last. At first, entry was suspended for 30 days. In our countries, the authorities have taken measures in different ways to combat the coronavirus. When there was a threat to close the theatre where I worked, Anton was already working remotely. It was a little preparatory period for us to accept this situation. There were still flights to Germany. However, it was at that moment that I had a fear of the unknown, and he had a crazy idea - to quarantine with him in Germany. Due to the uncertain situation in the world, I was afraid to support his idea, but after 3 months this idea no longer seems crazy to me! When Anton told me that closing the borders would only bring us closer, I did not believe him. The hardest part is the lack of physical contact. Of course, it turned out as he said - we became close. I became confident in my feelings for him - feelings that may have appeared later, if not for the boundaries. Our motto always calms me down - even at a distance of 2000 km, we still have each other. Because there are no boundaries for those who want to be together.”. 

Caroline (France): “I am French, my ex-partner lives in Brazil. Both countries are on lockdown. We met in 2019 in March in Porto, Portugal, for the first time and it was an amazing love story. I heard at the television that we have to stay at home and the borders of France will be closed. Of course, I was scared and the first two weeks were really difficult for me, because I didn’t know - as many other people - what was happening to our world. We spoke with my partner every day per WhatsApp - it is a new good way to communicate and we can see each other. But love story at distance is difficult - you don’t see each other more that for 2-3 months. So little by little, without personal meetings, without making love, I think, love is going away, even if you’ve been very in love together. And since a few days I’ve decided to stop these relationships. I made this decision already twice before, but each time I came back, because I loved him very much. But the distance makes this story going down… He didn’t understood why in this special situation of Covid-19, I decided to stop…”.