“Some of my friends thought it was frivolous of me to be talking about making art in the face of the crisis. But personally, I don’t have the capacity to set up a support network and there are other people already doing incredible things in that area. I just wanted to create a space where people exchange skills, ideas or support – and have something to get excited about.”

Vivien Opiolka works as a development worker at the Central and West Integration Network and has been a resident of Govanhill since 2013. As the Coronavirus outbreak was just beginning to make an impact in the UK, she was inspired by seeing videos of Italians seemingly breaking out into spontaneous song from their balconies during lockdown. After a bit of digging she discovered that it wasn’t spontaneous, but had been organised via a Facebook event.

“It made me realise” she says, “if you want to do something big, you have to organise – nothing happens unless somebody organises it. That’s why I set up the group. Not to make music, but just to have some connection from window to window.”

The Govanhill Window Jams Facebook group she set up has since grown to nearly 200 members. The description shares some suggestions of the types of connections that could be made:

“Put your speakers in the window and host a wee DJ slot? Arrange a jam session for everyone with open windows? Do a reading through a megaphone? Cut out silhouettes and light up your windows at night for your neighbours? Arrange a window disco or theatre? Invent and share a game that you can play from window to window from Queens Park to Calder Street?”

This week, they orgaanised ‘Govanhill Window Picture Week’. Inspired by Strathbungo’s annual ‘Window Wonderland’ event, people have been encourated to put up window decorations and backlight them after dark. Members of the group translated the poster into Slovak, Romanian and Arabic to reach further into Govanhill’s multicultural communities.

Dagmar Srajbrova is one of the residents who has joined in. Speaking about why she got involved, she says: “I created a picture with a message to ‘stay home’ to try and encourage people to behave better and respect one another. We are all just people and I think in this situation, we must forget about our differences and do more to be supportive and helpful. At the moment, I have Easter images up, but after the holidays, I’ll switch them to just positive messages.”

The idea of sharing window art has been particularly popular with families with young children – many of whom are trying to work out how to juggle childcare, home-schooling and working from home at the same time, and are in need of activity ideas. The majority of Govanhill’s residents live in tenement flats, which can leave many children feeling cooped-up inside.

Asi Farid spotted a rainbow in someone’s window and then noticed the call out for window art on Facebook. Her nine-year-old daughter, Aysha, wanted to get involved and Asi was pleased to find a new activity to do together:

“Since we made ours, we’ve spotted several more. It makes me feel warm inside, like we’re part of a community. It highlights that we’re all in this together and we all need ideas to keep our kids busy! I think it's really lovely and wee kids love pointing out the pictures they see. It makes you feel as though you’re involved in something with everyone else.”

As much as she wants people to join in, Vivien is mindful of only encouraging people to take part in a way that complies with lockdown regulations:

“Initially it was going to be a window walk, but we didn’t want to create a crowd situation, or invite anyone to leave the house unnecessarily. Instead we’ve asked contributors to take a picture from the inside, and then asked people to share if they spot it from the outside when out for essentials or exercise. The process is more important than the outcome.”

For many of those trying to make a difference or contribute to their community in these rapidly changing times, this need to be flexible and adapt the approach is key. For Vivien, this is the first time she’s ever tried to build an online community and she is finding some challenges. For one, people are quite dispersed throughout the neighbourhood. So the next step of the project is to try and map the group’s members, to see if there are clusters where new ideas can be tried. But she is realistic in her ambitions.

“It’s important to understand your own limitations and to admire the contribution of others; not try and do everything yourself,” she says. “I’d have loved to go out and speak to my immediate neighbours, but that isn’t possible. I wanted to put posters on people’s doors, but that’s no longer appropriate. We wanted to create a space that brings people together, but at the same time, we all have to do what we can to flatten the curve.”

Send your Govanhill window art pictures to hello@greatergovanhill.com to be featured in the gallery below.