Quarantine Art

April 15, 2020

What a strange time this is for everyone and everything. There is tragedy, anxiety, and loneliness on a global scale. There is also the sound of birds singing in big cities. Air and water quality is improving. People are more friendly on the streets (through their masks) because they miss being around people. I could go on….

I’ve been taking on little photo projects around the house over the last month (developing film, organizing my archive, and doing “timed still life” photo shoots). Basically, I take a household item like flowers or plants, set a timer, and see what I can come up with in an hour. The clock is ticking, so it’s a great way to get me to focus. It’s a nice distraction for a while.

Even though a little distraction is healthy, it doesn’t solve any problems or make the reality of this situation go away. These photos certainly don’t matter. Social media doesn’t matter. It’s just a distraction. And I think that’s OK as long as we all are taking some time to really let the reality of this pandemic sink in, to not numb ourselves with ____ right now, to actually look at our existence squarely in the eye. What’s actually important becomes abundantly clear in times of crisis. Are there any THINGS or ABSTRACT CONSTRUCTS we could do without once this has passed? Maybe what we were chasing is now proving to be an illusion?

-Chris