My Art in the Time of COVID-19
Instead of baking bread I made drawings.
It all began with an outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. March 11, 2025 marked five years since the World Health Organization declared a pandemic. I won’t let this anniversary slip by without recognizing the profound impact it has had on countless lives and countless artists.
We faced rapid and drastic changes, grappling with isolation and fear that took a toll on our mental health while our work lives were turned upside down. We frantically searched for respirators and N95 masks amidst a sea of misinformation and faced the daunting challenge of obtaining reliable testing.
The lockdowns presented unique hurdles for artists as exhibitions were canceled, performances halted, and income sources vanished. Artists, typically solitary by nature, found themselves navigating new avenues of virtual connection. Platforms like Zoom became part of our daily lives and offered a lifeline for conversation and creativity. We drew together from a distance and embarked on projects we previously had lacked time for. When it was safe to venture outside again, I committed to a daily ritual of cycling to new locations, penning haikus and creating drawings. I reflected on this experience in a piece I wrote on the third anniversary of the pandemic.
Making a drawing embeds a memory
It was a creative time. I wanted to revisit what I was drawing back in 2020, so I went to my Instagram. It’s become my art timeline. Here are a few selections:
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