Still ill: Brighton graduate tells COVID ‘long tail’ story through an illustrated diary

The Corona Diary, which illustrates Monique’s symptoms while she’s been feeling unwell, has grown into a platform which is now raising money for charity and hosts ‘COVID Culture’ talks, where fellow sufferers and experts on COVID-19 gather to discuss their experiences.

Monique, who graduated from BA(Hons) Illustration in 2011, suspects she contracted the virus early in the pandemic during a period when testing was limited, and has continued to show symptoms since then but has never tested positive, nor has an antibody test shown that she’s had it.

She said: “There’s always a baseline of pain. In the six months I’ve been ill, I’ve only really had some better days recently. When I started the comic, that was just after a relapse after I did some hoovering – maybe that was the exertion or the dust, or a combination of both. I really struggled to breathe, my chest felt so tight and I was in bed for three or four days.

“That’s when I got the iPad out and just started drawing and fortunately it was fun! I just started drawing myself, as I knew from going to the School of Art in Brighton that I should just start with what I know. I found it really therapeutic to tell my story.

Monique says part of the inspiration behind what’s become an almost ‘live’ comic was that she struggled to find stories from people who had been ill with the virus, with the messaging focused on avoiding infection: “A friend of mine and I got ill at the same time and apart from my friend, I had no one else to talk to about it. It was very frustrating that I couldn’t find similar experiences. So I thought I’d write and share what I was going through and also share resources which people may benefit from.

“I just wanted to tell my story and see if anyone related to it. The drawings are a bit like breaking the fourth wall, because it’s very rare for a sketchbook to talk back to you – but then you get people commenting back.”

Not much is yet known about the so-called ‘long-tail’ COVID, a version of the virus which makes symptoms linger longer than most who would test positive. Having been an energetic and physically active person before becoming symptomatic, Monique is keen to find answers.

“I’m holding a series on IGTV called the COVID Culture talks to try and get all opinions on the virus” says Monique: “No-one knows how long I’m going to be feeling like this. There needs to be more research.”

Monique’s long-term goal is to publish her series of illustrations as a fully-fledged comic book, which she hopes will give her the freedom to tell her story with a bit more nuance.

“At the moment, I’m very aware of having an immediate audience who take things at face value, but with a book I can take my time and re-jig the structure.”

Monique now works at a major art gallery and looks back at her time at Brighton with fondness: “Having grown up in London, coming to Brighton there was a real buzz and I loved living near the sea and feeling more connected to nature.

“My course really was illuminating. It’s renowned and my peers were extremely talented. I learnt more about the process of making work, the attention to detail and the power of communication – that probably helped shape how I’m telling this story now”.

Monique’s story was recently told on the BBC News website and she has also appeared on a Times podcast to discuss the Zoe Symptom tracker app. Follow her Corona Diary on Instagram and visit her website.