Lockdown/Solitude
2020 LOCKDOWN/SOLITUDE
Artist’s Statement
The collection of work is born of the year 2020, from March until December. The historic COVID-19 pandemic greatly affected the world, first of all impacting peoples’ health and their very lives. These paintings represent my response to the subsequent lockdown’s impact – a lockdown that brought about isolation, abrupt change, and solitude.
Racial tension, political division, food scarcity, unemployment, lack of information, conflicting information, loss of income, instability, and limited social contact have all contributed to many subjects of the paintings. Each painting deals with some aspect of cultural events that happened in my immediate experience as as artist, community member, mother, and creative individual.
While the COVID-19 pandemic forced many changes in my daily life, I do not profess to speak to all aspects of the pandemic – only to my individual creative response to life as it changed before my eyes. I have found making art and contributing insight to this historic and cultural chapter has given me a reflective purpose. As the months evolved, a greater sense of compassion for society permeated my consciousness. My emotions were heightened and exposed.
If history provides lessons, it is my hope that this collection will live on as a reminder of how inextricably connected we are as humans – in sickness and health, as well as in solitude. May these paintings allow us to, years from now, remind us where we, as a society, failed and succeeded in a time of crisis. Ultimately, I hope we may look back on this chapter in our common experience as a reflection of our common humanity.