This is an ongoing project about the Corona Virus. I have been struggling like everyone with the magnitude of the pandemic, how it has insidiously spread wreaking havoc around the globe. In March, my world became the size of my apartment- never leaving it’s supposed safety. I knew I would not be able to access my studio in Brooklyn, so I brought my camera with a few props and stands home and constructed a small set next to a window.
I began my days looking at the NY Times online hoping to find in the news, a glimmer of something positive. What I found and became obsessed with were the maps, charts and headlines that were published which track it’s spread. I screengrab and printed them out to see how the disease had multiplied and moved. These little visual changes affect millions of people like me. It quickly became apparent that I had to use them in my photographs, helping me process this complicated time.
Each screengrab I create captures the press’s determination to communicate information as to where the disease is developing and how many people are affected in a statistical and straight forward manor. What I’m confronted withis that each change from chart to chart or map to map represents the human toll of this disease. These simple graphic changes have such intense ramifications; it is the loss of one's health, one's life - someone's friend, coworker or family member.
Along with gathering these maps, I’ve included screengrabs of the vast number of people who have died from the virus as well as our political leaders who have refused to acknowledge the devastation it is creating as it moves throughout our country.
By photographing these images and data while utilizing my love of botanicals, my intent is that they no longer will be just cold numbers or random photographs of people but speak to the humanity that is affected by this pandemic.