TRANSCENDIENTS: 100 DAYS OF COVID-19 ARTIST STATEMENT
When Stay-at-Home Orders were imposed on much of the United States and the world, I found myself socially distanced in my studio. Responding to the uncertainties and anxieties the pandemic brought, I tried to find light in positive stories. So I started a meditative weaving process, creating one woven paper work every day for 100 days, and posting an image of it on Instagram.
At first my focus was on honoring frontline workers. But as the daily events I could bear witness to online evolved, so did my subjects. The 100 weavings I created over this period tell stories that vary widely, ranging from issues around race and class, to food sustainability, art, scientific innovations, and climate adaptation.
COVID-19 has forced our world to reset and reshape—in just a matter of three months and ten days, the world felt fundamentally changed. My weavings became material expressions of both compassion and sorrow, and an effort to spread a message of hope.
TRANSCENDIENTS: MEMORIAL TO HEALTHCARE WORKERS ARTIST STATEMENT
Following news coverage of the coronavirus, I came across stories of healthcare workers who died from COVID-19. I wanted to help share their stories, and help commemorate these fallen heroes. I tried to capture the spiritual movement of these healthcare workers in mist portraits, and then printed them on long Kozo paper scrolls- much like how a loved one who has passed is memorialized and celebrated in Japanese culture.
This project is a collaboration with Kaiser Health News and The Guardian. From April 2020 to April 2021, their journalists have reported on close to 3,607 US healthcare worker deaths, gathered in an online interactive database called Lost on the Frontline. With their reporters, I was able to reach out to the families of each of the heroes in this gallery.
KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a nonprofit news service covering health issues. It is an editorially independent program of KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation), which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.