Rewilding

Rewilding

20x16, oil on panel

Buffalo walked the empty highway in New Deli, wild boar roamed the deserted streets of Italian towns and wild turkeys strutted around Harvard Yard. The animals, always there, were free to reclaim their territory unabashedly. Isolated in our homes, these photos dredged up Hollywood versions of a post apocalyptic planet.

This scene was captured by my son who had ridden his bike across an absolutely empty Golden Gate Bridge. The usual line of cars climbing Muir Headlands was missing as were the knots of traffic near viewpoints. In the quiet a coyote stood squarely and met his gaze.

On a subsequent ride a bobcat, notoriously shy, trotted by him with a squirrel in its mouth and never acknowledged having human company.

Night Shift

Night Shift

coronavirus series

16x12 oil on panel

Public spaces, now empty, were disinfected at night with fogging machines. The other worldly scenes this gave rise to made me wonder how far into Dante's circles of hell we had ventured.

Intensive Care

Intensive Care

16x12 oil on panel

It’s a uniquely wonderful person who runs into a burning building to help others out or walks into a ward of infectious patients to try to help them through their illness. In both cases the individual knowingly risks their own well being for the sake of another. Usually someone they’ve never met and will probably never see again. Our communal safely rests on these people. They are the fibers of the safety net that catches us when disaster strikes.

When the virus landed hard in New York City and Intensive Care Units were at capacity there was a shortage of Personal Protective Equipment. This meant that doctors, nurses and medical technicians were being placed at risk while assisting the ill.

I again found myself asking, how could this be in a country that has prided itself for its readiness to produce and deliver anything the marketplace needed nearly instantaneously? Aren’t medical supplies foundational to disaster planning? 

I was struck by how uncomfortable the needed protective gear is that medical professionals were fighting for. Layers of nonporous materials, awkward disposable outer layers and face, hair and eye protection. Have you ever tried to breathe through an N95 mask? Every breath is a struggle. 

These people are running into the fire for our sake. They bring years of education and training into one grey room after another to do their best to heal and when they can’t they hold the hands of our friends and family as they pass away. The least we can do is provide the medical community with everything we possibly can to keep them safe.