Covid19 has scanned the United States like a black light in an hourly rate motel room that is America. This body of work is a surrealistic response to the surreal normality worn by our current reality. While globally the curve has flattened, the drawbacks of a self-proclaimed free society manifest as spikes in cases throughout the United States, where wearing a mask has become a partisan issue, positioned at odds with civil rights rather than in line public safety. As the repercussions of loosening lockdown ripple through the population, the post-pandemic rush to normality has proven to be too hasty. The once perceived efficiently of our for-profit medical system has revealed scarcity. The government rallies for the return to “business-as-usual”, prioritizing the state of the Stock Market over public health. The end game of capitalism has manifested as a death panel for market worship, while democracy has resulted in a behavioral social backlash that has left a devastating trail of casualties. The urgency to pause and re-examine the parameters of “normality” is more important now than ever. Momentarily halting the capitalistic machine has exposed the unsustainable structural inequality of the global system. The undiscovered post-pandemic has the potential to yield widespread systemic cultural, environmental, economic, social and democratic transformations.
