Sorry, We're Closed

Sorry, We're Closed

Coronavirus series

16x12 oil on panel

As the stay-at-home orders began to reshape our lives, our eyes moved from the large public spaces that were empty to the more intimate gathering places that had been ordered to close. Restaurants, where we go for conversation and community as much as for food were shuttered. First the idea that lunch with a friend or a casual cup of coffee was not possible was a shock, then the realization of the depth of our troubles crystallized seeing all the "Closed" signs. Dread of the economic fallout took hold. Not only were individual workers doing without needed income, but how many businesses could survive being shut down for a couple of weeks? As weeks turned into months we knew that a second disaster was taking place all around us. All those closed doors indicated another form of silent suffering that would take an enormous toll in a whole different way.

 

Helping From Home

Helping From Home

16x12 oil on panel

As the stay at home orders were issued across the country it was stated that our rare trips out would require a mask. The shortage of personal protective equipment immediately became so severe that those whose lives depended on it, health care workers and first responders, were going without. Workers in essential services from grocery store employees to postal workers also needed to wear masks every day and they were in scarce supply. 

Brigades of women pulled out their long forgotten sewing machines, dusted them off and got to work. Patterns were shared and how-to videos sprung to life. Heroines like Stephanie Oddo, who organized the Healthcare Mask Collaborative, delivered donated fabric and elastic to a wide circle of people who produced thousands of masks at home and delivered them to medical facilities and military groups. 

The juxtaposition of sitting at a sunny table in a quiet house and making masks in the hopes of saving the lives of people on the front lines of a pandemic was startling.  I thought of World War II volunteers who helped hospitals suffering from severe shortages, collected scrap metal for reuse and planted Victory Gardens to supplement food rationing. But the United States had built the most stunning consumer society the world had ever seen since that time. We now face overwhelming choices and companies promising to goods faster and cheaper. 

How could this have happened? 

Silent City

Silent City

Coronavirus series

20x16 oil on panel

The speed with which cities shut down in quarantine was shocking. It went from a novel event that a few countries were going through to a sight seen around the world, creating scenes that were utterly unique and haunting.

This enormous intersection, built to organize a huge volume of traffic sits empty. Numerous lanes for cars, trucks and bikes are still and the two lone pedestrians seem to emphasize how tiny each individual is in the complex systems we've built. Looking at the scenes of shuttered businesses and empty streets it sinks in that it's going to take a while to build back from the overall silence the pandemic imposed on the world.