THE HIDDEN FLASK

At the start of this project, I found it difficult on how I could convey my idea and how I could explain would my idea is and what it is trying to show.

I was focusing on how quarantine has effected everyone, especially those who go to the pub or do social drinking regularly. Before people, especially younger people, would drink through a flask to hide the fact that they’re drinking alcohol due to them being underage or not wanting others to know that they’re day-drinking. This can also happen in the workplace, when colleagues would take out their flasks, with caution, while on the lookout that no one is looking in their direction, and pouring it in their coffee or beverage. Usually the flask would contain gin, vodka, or even whiskey. Personally the idea of mixing alcohol and coffee sounds sickening, but if they like it then I can’t judge.

This piece is meant to depict the fatalities of drinking excessively and the deaths during quarantine that weren’t  just due to the virus, Covid-19. During lockdown, in London, there was a massive increase in people whose mental health had deteriorated due to the stress and anxiety of not just out of fear of this unknown virus, to which there is still no cure, but also out of fear for their jobs. Many people lost their jobs and businesses, due to them being liquidated to pay off the debts owed. The first wave of liquidation caused a wave of fear instilled into the public, fearing that they too will lose their jobs or businesses. This would have caused a large strain on everyones mental health.

The pandemic also majorly affected those in educate, and I know this first-hand because, although I was very confident in getting into the university of my choice and getting good grades and manifesting that belief, I was still extremely fearful of whether I would get into my university and whether I would get my desired grades because at the time the government were considering how they would grade everyone and the future didn’t look promising from that point because I didn’t know how they would grade it and if they would grade fairly. I know a lot of people who were extremely stressed and depressed because of the grade they got because they knew they could have done better in the exam or nearing the end of their Btec course. The same with people who were doing their GCSE’s, I’ve always been told that your GCSE’s are the most important grades because most universities look at your GCSE’s to see how well is your english or maths, no matter what, whether you’ve done the A level or not.

All of these topics affected the publics mental health in one way or another, some may have been depressed for a large majority of their quarantine and felt no release from people telling them that it would be ok and that things can only get better because from what has happened things are only getting worse,  and some may find that the only way to release themselves from this suffering and depression is SUICIDE. It has shown that with the increase in people suffering from mental health there is also an increase in people over drinking and committing suicide.

I spoke with my dad on this topic, and we concluded that another reason why people had been drinking more was due to the pubs closing because the pub was a social place where people could go and relax from work and their family and just vent their stress. Without this “haven” people have nowhere to escape and they become depressed due to this.

The “HIDDEN FLASK” is shown to be hidden out of site but, like all things, whats in the darkness will come into light and you can see this through the shirt being lifted up and seeing the silver top of the flask glimmer in the light. And even when the flask is safe in the pocket and covered by the shirt, it can still be seen, it can seen through the pocket, due to its large size, the shape becomes visible and it’s as if the pocket becomes transparent and allows others to see what is behind the black curtains.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *