TOMMY PAVAN, 18, Milan at New York Models
reflecting isolation
F WORD: What are your top 5 interests? TOMMY PAVAN: I love doing sports and training my body, especially swimming, I love it. In fact, I played water polo for seven years. I think the feeling underwater is unique and it seems to me as if the time has stopped when I am underwater. I like arts, in particular drawing, I love drawing mostly nature and the human body, but I still have to improve. I also love listening to music, it helps me clear up my mind and it’s wonderful how it can change my mood. Another thing that I adore is travelling, I’m still young, but, thanks to my parents, I have travelled a lot around Europe, and one of my dreams is to travel the all over the world and see more of the planet which we live in. I also enjoy reading a lot, it’s fantastic how it allows you to experience different things and live different lives, a good way to escape reality.
F WORD: How have you been dealing with the whole isolation thing?
TOMMY PAVAN: Unfortunately, I live in a place where this virus has been severely damaging, we’ve been quarantined for almost a month now. I think that isolation is a sacrifice required from all of us, but it’s the only way to defeat this virus. I know it’s not easy and I am suffering a lot from this situation, but we have to look to the positive side, now we have more time to focus on ourselves, it’s as if our lives have been paused, allowing us to reflect on what we want and what we can do to improve our negative aspects.
F WORD: What have you been doing to occupy your time and mind? TOMMY PAVAN: I’m attending my last year of high school, so I have video lessons every morning and some homework to do in the afternoons, but in the rest of the time, I’m trying to do the things that I’ve always had little time to focus on. For example, I started drawing every day now, because I really want to improve this skill. I’m also taking this chance to train more and to read a lot.
F WORD: How are you feeling about the COVID-19 pandemic? TOMMY PAVAN: I’m scared for all the people I love, especially for my parents and my grandparents. This is a very bad situation and I haven’t completely realized it yet. It all seems so strange, I’ve never imagined something like this would happen, the whole world is in the same situation and we have to stay united, it’s the only way to win.
F WORD: What are your thoughts on how your government and the world are dealing with it? TOMMY PAVAN: I think at first everyone underestimated the situation, because it seemed a far reality and until something bad touches us individually, we don’t fully become aware of its severity. Here, in Italy, the pandemic started quite near my area, and the government did everything they could to contain the spread. Obviously, they had to introduce this isolation slowly, not overnight, but in a week we were all locked in. Now this situation has spread all around the world, so everyone has truly been impacted by the situation, and we all have to make sacrifices in order to help one another.
F WORD: What is the best thing you’ve been able to do since isolation? TOMMY PAVAN: Now I have more time to focus on myself, in this period of my life, I have to make some important choices that will direct my life, like the university. So I’m trying to understand what I want for myself and what my expectations are so that I can act to obtain that. Also, with this time I’ve started drawing again, I’ve loved to draw ever since I was a child, but in the last years, due to school and sports, I never had enough time to do it.
F WORD: What do you miss the most right now (due to isolation)? TOMMY PAVAN: I usually spend a lot of my time with my friends, so I miss them the most. I miss hanging out, having fun with them and living outside the walls of my home. I am very meteoropathic, so, in these days, especially when it’s sunny, I tend to get down and find it very difficult staying inside when I’m used to being outdoors so often.
F WORD: What would be your perfect soundtrack for this time? TOMMY PAVAN: I usually prefer sad songs, they make me think a lot. I’m listening to a lot of Italian rap, from artists such as Nitro and Izi. But also some Juice WLRD and Xxxtentacion songs.
F WORD: Can you suggest a movie/series/or book we should check out during isolation? TOMMY PAVAN: For a series, I would suggest 'Peaky Blinders' and if you want something good to read, then 'Into the wild' by Jon Krakauer.
F WORD: A hopeful statement to encourage others: TOMMY PAVAN: Think positive! “Everything is gonna be all right.”
F WORD: Favourite f-word: TOMMY PAVAN: Friendship!
FOLLOW TOMMY PAVAN ON INSTAGRAM
