Quarantine boredom, a boundless source of ingenuity, has delivered us yet another delightful creation: viral, Photoshopped memes depicting Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot standing solemn guard over various local landmarks and artistic masterpieces.
It all started last week, when a grim-faced Lightfoot shut down the Lakefront Trail, Chicago Riverwalk and the 606 with a stern warning to Chicagoans, telling them to avoid congregating outside or risk ticketing or arrest. Soon after, a crop of memes bubbled up across social media platforms depicting Lightfoot superimposed into a variety of Where's Waldo-esque scenes—guarding a police-barricaded entrance to the Lakefront Trail, perched on top of a traffic light, or casting a withering stare at the loungers in Georges Seurat's "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte," the famous pointillist painting on display at the Art Institute. The majority of the memes are housed on "Where's Lightfoot," an Instagram page created by Chicagoan Danny Martinez, which has amassed nearly 30,000 followers in just a few days.
As we all adjust to life under a "stay-at-home" order, the memes offer a surreal, welcome respite amid an otherwise nerve-wracking period. Even Lightfoot herself is a fan. "The thing that I like most about the memes and video that we put out is that it gives people hope, and hope means healing and that's what we need in this time," she said in a Tuesday afternoon press conference, after previously admitting to recreating some of the poses at home with her family.
You can check out some highlights below—and next time you need a reminder to practice social distancing, just envision Lightfoot's imposing gaze and head back inside.
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