United States of America

United States of America
Just some thoughts and musings ...

United States of America
'100,000 to 200,000' is a selection from a photographic and video art based series titled 'de luto'. The work explores ideas of mourning, loss, and scale of death. In regards to 'scale of death' this work is trying to rationalize and understand the massive loss of life that had been originally projected in the US. Other works explore the sheer lunacy of loosing 3 million people to a disease in 1 year. The shifted focus is meant to symbolize the numbers and figures that are still out of focus, the crudely cropped cacti and their blank backgrounds are meant to represent those ripped from us prematurely, quietly, and brutally.

United States of America
“Rainbow Peace Palace”, Original Works by Karen Jacobs www.kjacobsart.com Original Size: 18 in. x 24 in. Medium: Fine Art Colored Pencil Drawing “Rainbow Peace Palace” is an intuitive, hand-made, original colored- pencil drawing incorporating emblematic shapes, energetically in harmony. This work is a visceral response to the need for a transition toward global healing, collective peace, strength, equality, compassion and captures beauty and courage of the human spirit. During this unprecedented time, no human being was left untouched by the impact of the pandemic. There is a real need to address our collective trauma and move into a healing state. “Rainbow Peace Palace” uses its powerful visual vocabulary to honor and offer healing for the lives lost and sacrifices faced during unprecedented times. Multi-layered in its impact and meaning, “Rainbow Peace Palace” offers a vision of hope, with the mission of spreading joy, positivity, love and strength to the world community. Intricate details of birds and peace signs with phrases of love, freedom and peace represent the power to renew and rebuild, which is my sincerest hope for the world. We have an opportunity to learn and grow into something more powerful than whatever was in the past. We are all one.

United States of America

Canada
(Commissioned Artist for the Americas COVID-19 Memorial) "To See You, To Ache To Feel You, To Feel For You. (Us)" is a painting that carries themes and emotions such as fear, the craving for physical affection from our lovers and peers. During the past year and few months now, we have been left without landmarks, destabilized, without the possibility to seek comfort in the arms of those who we love. Yet, even in such a devastating state, gestures of empathy and solidarity were noticed amongst society. Even when left without much, individuals have gathered mentally, intellectually, emotionally, to help and support those in need as much as they can, as to reach some sort of balance and equality in this new unbalanced era. I have been touched by those, demoralized and not necessarily more lucky, who have found ways to provide care, food, emotional support to those around them and more. Now, if we take a look at the elements I have incorporated on this painting to try and express these emotions, gestures and state of minds, we can notice two hands reaching for each other but not quite being able to touch. Characters that are floating in a chaotic but hopeful atmosphere, expressed by colours, not looking at each other as there are so many individuals in the city, in different countries who also struggle at the hands of the pandemic. The squares around their heads represent the barrier that the virus has imposed on us but also the screens that we had no choice to incorporate in our lives in order to maintain some new form of social interactions and that is, if we were lucky to own such screens. Their mouths are masked but their eyes are wide open to let their peers know they are seen, not alone. Their heads are on fire, for so many thoughts run through their brains and the weight of uncertainty burns. However, their bodies are red, warm and resilient. Their hearts are still beating and are filled with empathy. Hopeful, commemorating those who are not here with us anymore.

United States of America
Acrylic, pastel, pencil, cardboard, wood - This piece began with the face, as humans have been the most directly affected by this contemporary virus. The birch trees were chosen because of a childhood memory, I lost my brother at a very young age, I was 3 he was two, we would always climb the paper birch in our front yard.?Trees are also one of the largest organisms in the world as we know it, appearing to stand alone, divided, however below the surface they share a very complicated root system, giving more to eachother and taking less for themselves in order to keep the family alive. The Americas are shown I. The water and the cosmos above, as we are all connected, United, all existing together as nature. So often we take this life for granted rather than appreciating what moments we have together. I choose to shift my focus not to what is wrong with anyone else, rather what is right with me, for me. In nature there is no wrong, there is not really a right, either, it just is. Revel in the beauty of impermanence, see the beauty in the entirety of existence, be present, be grateful.

United States of America
My painting is called “Flores y tormenta” (flowers and storm). It was made with oils on gesso canvas. Its dimensions are 30in x 24in. This painting represents the struggle that the people from the americas had to go through during the last year and a half due to the pandemic but it also represents the courage and resilience that we had together as one people regardless of what part of the americas we are from, the color of our skin and religious beliefs

United States of America
These are part of a series of collages (cut out letters) that bring together my fine art, graphic design and opinions. I soon began to see that I was documenting my feelings about a global event and called the group of 107 pieces the Pandemic Diaries..

Mexico
(Commissioned Artist for the Americas COVID-19 Memorial) Rammed Earth is an unlimited series of square monolith sculptures (5 x 5 x 5 meters), constructed with the ancient technique of rammed earth (sand, silt, soil and clay), by mixing different kinds of regional soil. Added to the unique strata of soil exposed on each sculpture, other organic matter will be deposited in the mix: local plant seeds (weed, trees, fruit, etc.), and organic detritus (nutrients). The works are intended to be built in different locations along the Americas as it may be possible, and remain indefinitely, exposed to natural conditions, all free of base or shelter, in order to be transformed gradually, susceptible of being taken by nature and deformed over years or ages. Rammed earth is an indigenous and pre-colonial earth construction technique that is being revisited by contemporary architecture. While its durability, thermal and acoustic parameters are outstanding, it is approached differently according to climate, geography, resources and culture, also allowing sustainability and visual pattern design by layers. This sculpture stands for the abstraction of a devastating event, regarding its layers and accumulation of information (data, infections, deaths, vaccines, etc.). Along with a natural process of erosion and transformation, collective memory is its primary matter. There is an important message when an ancestral technique returns to the architectural realm, catching attention on the environmental agenda, while turning it to a decolonial turn. The proposal is a memorial to embrace change, the world would never be the same, and demands a radical deviation of human habits in the face of the environmental threats, linked to upcoming unwanted diseases. Finally, the difference of each work determined by each place refers to the diversity of ways of living a biological affectation such as Covid-19.

United States of America
The COVID experience defied my ability to maintain a coherent and consistent art practice. Instead, of my preferred media of textile and fiber, I expressed a part of my pandemic experience in an amplified journal form without reference to specific locations, dates or time. I have written in journals for years. After each daily entry, I discard the page: The moment is over. I see no point or purpose in keeping a record of it. It impinges on the present. In creating Time and Place, I wrote obsessively for days in the early stages of the pandemic. I had no plans to create art about the course of pandemic or my experience of it. I had no plans to keep the pages. I was not making "art about COVID." When I felt that I was finished writing about COVID, that I had exhausted my thoughts and feelings at least for the moment, and, having completed 6 large pages, I stopped. I had a visually confusing "map" of my experience. I made four smaller pieces to accompany that larger one. As with many decisions I made during the pandemic, they defy reason and artistic purpose. I wrote the journal pages using a continuous line of asemic text, writing that is visually incoherent. It has no capital letters, no punctuation, and no verbal coherence. Any meaning, if even known to me, is buried in the linear obsession. If I, or a viewer, look close enough meaning may emerge. But it isn't necessary and it may not exist.

Cuba
(Commissioned Artist for the Americas COVID-19 Memorial) Fake News was the first online exhibition in Galeria Habana presented in real time through the social media accounts. The exhibition opened every day virtually and presented twelve new daily paintings from March 21 to April 30, 2020. The series is comprised of paintings that are a result of a rigorous daily exercise entailing the artist’s close read of the national and international news. He then interprets the information (or misinformation) of that mornings’ media through painting, titling each with the headline that it is in response to. The process transforms the news into pictorial abstractions, whereby one representation of reality is translated into another. The exhibition was updated daily with the 12 medium format works in response to the days headlines, operating at the same speed as broadcast news. Prieto applies the paint directly from tube to raw canvas, by passing the intervention of other materials, that render painting in its purest form. Prieto’s abstract application of paint generates compositions that visualize the comprehension of reality - mired in emotion and experience. With this series, Prieto returns to painting, a historically traditional medium, and takes up its conventions to experiment with the established mechanisms of representation in art and their implications today. He investigates from the visual arts the way in which we estimate the environment, interpret events, filter changing information, and manipulate reality, all with an awareness of media saturation. Prieto’s methodology of Fake News, exalts the plasticity of information and consciously emphasizes the process of perception in which information is reinterpreted into its own form, a new code. This game invites us to question the consensuses that we have assumed as truths before accepting lies - false information we have allowed our emotional rather than intellectual selves to internalize as truth.

United States of America
For many women, it was not possible to get into the closed beauty parlors to have their hair done. This was a minor tragedy for them and they stood outside that beauty parlor with frazzled hair hoping beyond hope that they could just get inside.

United States of America
The artwork’s title: We’re All In This Together pretty much sums it up in this current pandemic. Skin color, culture, borders of nationality, religious beliefs, status, age, gender, sexual orientation should not divide us. This artwork was completed just before Earth Day so it has, I hope, a double meaning. We’re all in this together; not just with our human neighbors but we share this planet with the animals, creatures, beasts and trees and plants and ocean. To quote Mr. Rogers: "When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.' To this day, especially in times of 'disaster,' I remember my mother’s words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers—so many caring people in this world." In this current pandemic this is especially true and I much prefer the media stories of true heroes. Working from home has some advantages, and I greatly appreciate the opportunity to spend more time with family and remotely with friends and community rather than commuting while knowing I am doing my part for the greater good. I also much prefer optimistic coverage about how the planet is recovering due to humans globally practicing social distancing and staying home and pray that we learn some lessons from this current situation and make some lasting changes for the better. What is more beautiful than smiles and genuine smiles are not limited to skin color, culture, age, gender or any other previously mentioned factor. In closing with a quote from Demi Lovato: “Nothing is more beautiful than a smile that has struggled through tears”.

Cuba
(Commissioned Artist for the Americas COVID-19 Memorial) In Túnica ​I return to the roots​ of ​the pain ​from​ a broken memory. Yearning. Alteration of time and space. They remember and write in silence, without fear of the voice of memory. It retains the passage of time with an almost immutable permanence. This pre-established mindset is dispelled by an expansive reality that lies in our cultural, traditional, spiritual, and physical roots. A minimum of these encoded and retrieved links make memory a habitable space. I give myself to an eminently poetic strategy as a possibility of Union. The creative act is substance that modifies History. And no; the creative act vanished by ​human Will exerts nothing but dualities of the Ego and​ the​ fragmentation of experience. Tú​nic​a ​​​​subjects ​the​ body to the process of a-temporality; mutilated linen, Breathe deeply, yes… it trembles…, with fear it picks up the force exerted on it; The blows resound. Without yelling… remember.

United States of America
(Commissioned Artist for the Americas COVID-19 Memorial) Portrait of Madame W. 2020 led us all into an unintentional race, with no winners. My husband explained mental illness simply as a distance between two points; some arrive to the end point more quickly than others. W is fast; she ran cross-country on the varsity team at her high school. Extremely inquisitive, hyper intelligent, and an outside of the box thinker (creative), her junior year of high school was lost. W had to focus on a pandemic instead of normal high school milestones. Like many youth, COVID dug its nasty claws into her developing roots, plucked each of her freshly grown leaves, and pulled her violently from the ground. She searched for hope, and help, her odds inevitably stacked against her. W, as I like to call it, is a double whammy, a minority female. W worked as my studio assistant/model before her mental health, like many illnesses, took a turn for the worse. She is a survivor. She tells her story through her choice in literature, a key part of her identity. We share a love of blue, adequate for a portrait pertaining to depth and struggles of mental health. Having attended the same high school as W along with my own struggles with mental health, and having lost a family member to suicide, we, as the kids say, “Vibed.” Intrigued in my own personal quest of representing the minority figure, W willingly agreed to recreate Singer Sargent’s “Portrait of Madame X”, in her Quinceañera dress, a symbol of the shift to Mexican Woman-hood. W bravely represents women and the extra roles that many were forced to take on due to the pandemic.

United States of America
Title-"Renovamen" Is antique paper mixed media. The piece is meant to represent the notion, that all life comes from death, and that both life and death can be beautiful.

Brazil
The work "Your Light Still Shines" is a Conceptual Photography and it was produced with a cage found in the garbage, a candlestick and a candle.This work makes reference to the difficult times we are experiencing. The candle flame represents our last hope for better times and the cage shows us the delicate situation of physical and mental confinement to which we are being subjected. We have to keep our flame burning and light up everyone around us.

United States of America
Wallpaper of spring blossoms hope and renewal. What an insect sees. Spring morning.

United States of America
This art car was inspired by the children of Italy painting pictures the promote hope. ” Andra Tutto Bene” .

United States of America
Rising Angel - This piece relates to both the Covid pandemic & social inequality. Instead of a fallen angel, thinking of loss of all life (while that is important), there is a different view. This piece "Rising Angel" is about the upturn, the solidarity and being united, awakening of consciousness and defining a new normal. Retrospective of the Covid pandemic, we are all thankful for everyone who helps another. This further includes our tremendous response in unity for first responders, front line workers, and everyday citizens helping neighbors and community. This angle is not fully risen, but her wings are starting to pull up. Find a way to push ahead, put loss on your heart, but do what you must to "rise up" to see the world - for another day. Do what you can to appreciate life for what it is, a gift. Make today the best day you can, and make a difference. Rising Angel | Original Mixed Media Painting Size: 48 x 24 IN (121.92 x 60.96 CM)

United States of America
“Todos dieron algo, algunos dieron todo. ( All gave some, some gave all)”. The inspiration for this came from a ubiquitous and otherwise unassuming roadside warning/notification sign with a message never seen in my lifetime. “VIRUS IS HERE”. In the background there was a storm brewing over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. It was an ominous image, a message that had multiple social/economic/cultural implications and consequences for the year, summed up in just three words. It conjured up a sense of dread and signaled a commitment to and for a community. The title of the work comes from a statement about a war fought long ago, but it is a truth of all wars. The memorial concept is simple, placement of a message road sign at the entrance to a town with the message “VIRUS IS HERE”. Because it IS still, and will always be HERE, in the physical sense and the spiritual sense for everyone who experienced the pandemic. It is acknowledgement that no matter where you go, it is HERE and it had human consequences. The signboard can be moved from town to city to town. At each location the sign flashes the basic message; and then proceeds to list the name, age, and a defining characteristic of each individual who died in this particular town from circumstances associated with the pandemic. It is just a factual statement of circumstances that allows the individual viewer to bring to it their own experience. It leaves room for their personal remembrance of the pandemic while framing it in the larger context of a community.

United States of America
adrift, 30 x 44 inches, 2020, oil, colored pencil, graphite on paper

United States of America
AMERICAS COVID-19 MEMORIAL / The Americas North, Central, South Two continents Borders connected GOD BLESS AMERICA Which one? Or all three? DIOS BENDIGA LAS AMERICAS (God bless the Americas) (written on Canada mask and left plastic glove) Beautiful Humans Suffered~Survived~Died~Mourned REMEMBER Victims of COVID-19 (written on United States mask and right plastic glove) FOREVER In Our HEARTS And Thoughts (written on South America mask) Eyes, eyebrows and glasses represent what we could see on people's faces with masks on during the pandemic.* Some people and health care workers have masks on. Masks, plastic gloves and oxygen tube are equipment used during the panademic (oxygen tube represents our connections to air for survival and used for some with COVID-19). Tombstones have state (Alaska 360+); country (Canada 25,200+, United States 590,000+, Mexico 221,640+); area (Central America 26,970+, Caribbean 8,070+); and continent (South America 753,870+). The number is approximate count of lives (+ means count continues) lost to COVID-19 and RIP (Rest in Peace) with a grave and skeleton (representing deceased lives) and flowers, butterflies and birds (representing spirits of life). Flags of some states and countries of the Americas. * (Either painted eyes or eyes from photos of the deceased may be used for a replica if obtained from families.) In memory of Ernest Eugene Trujillo 11/10/47 – 04/28/20; death due to COVID-19 (pictured on an urn in the cremation garden vault next to cemetery, located at the foot of the United States skeleton. Created by his sister Karen D. Gonzales, Denver, Colorado 5/31/21

United States of America
19"w x 14"h x 2"d (wood/enamel/iridescent acrylics)

United States of America
For many 2020 was a time of great tragedy, we went through a pandemic and examination of ourselves and our neighbors. It was basically like a house fire. A year later, the ruins remain, but we can learn, grow, and be beautiful. The painting is acryllic, watercolor, and ink.

United States of America
“Cacophony” is my visual representation of the hullabaloo of sounds and information, consistantly confusing and loud which surrounded us and caused such upheavals in our lives during the months of the Covid-19 pandemic. The brush strokes and marks of “Cacophony” move vertically, horizontally, back and forth, around and around which gives the viewer a way to find their own quietude in its eruption of color, shape and line. “Cacaphony” embraces a larger dialogue and encourages cultural reflection.

United States of America
A photograph of my daughter during the beginning of the COVID19 pandemic. I wanted to capture the tension or sadness a child would feel from not being able to blow on a dandelion because of having to wear a mask. The dandelion also represents the spreading of the COVID19 virus, however, through the sadness, there is also hope.

Mexico
•Conciencias• by Clara L. U. 2020. Mixta (óleo y acrílico) sobre cartón. 46.5 x 43.4 cm. Nuestros actos dicen todo sobre quienes somos. La pandemia sacó lo más profundo de nuestras conciencias, pero en lo abismal se pueden encontrar muchas cosas, desde la bondad y solidaridad más puras, hasta el egoísmo y la tiranía. Me parece que el mundo necesita más gente empática, que sea capaz de hacer cosas por los demás y no solo por sí mismas.

Mexico
(Commissioned Artist for the Americas COVID-19 Memorial) The 6' x 6' Library. A conversation. -Is it a building? -Yes, it is a library building that would be in constant growth. -Why a library? -Because a library is the paradigm of memory. -But is it a monument? -Yes, it is a public monument. -Is this the final shape or size? -No, the definitive shape is not decided. -What are the small cubes? -They are spaces on a 6’ by 6’ grid, each one with a bookshelf. -Why do they have these dimensions? -Their measure is based on the CDC’s safety distance guidance of 6 feet separation. -How many of these spaces will there be? -We don’t know, the books and spaces will probably keep growing. -Shouldn’t monuments be made out of marble or bronze? -It all depends on how you want to remember things or events. -I just want to remember the ones we have lost and how we lost them. -This library would a celebration of what they read. -Is the memorial the walls or the books? -It is the relationship between books, people and memory. -Where would the books come from? - They will be donated by the community. -What kind of books will there be? -Books based on the memories of the ones we have lost. -How will they be classified? -Randomly. -I believe the mixture of books will generate some sort of interesting chaos. -A kind of knowledge, a living entity. -To read is to remember.

United States of America
‘Entre el Caos, Su vida me da Paz’ As an undocumented person living in the Unites States of America, any crisis is heightened by the feeling of loosing your loved ones in your homeland and never beng able to see them again. To me the COVID-19 pandemic was not marked by those I lost but by those I thought I could have lost; Mis abuelos. Never a day went by where I wasn't thinking about them, never a day went by when I thought I could lose them and couldn't do anything about it. Top Left : Ramon Terrazas Top Right : Concepción Palacios Bottom Left: Alma Barrera Bottom Right: Guadalupe Montes MIddle : Brayan Montes-Terrazas (ME) This piece represents the feeling that all undocumented americans must come to terms with, loss without closure, lose with no restitution. Like the cells in a body we must compartmentalize this feeling, like water under the bridge we must let it flow, como las mariposas we must keep moving forward. It is a feeling my parents are tormented with everyday and something I must grapple with. This piece is anxiety, feeling trapped while everything is happening around you. You have no control over your circumstances. It is this feeling undocumented children, teens and now adults see everyday. It is this unnamed feeling that haunts us and tries to tear us down. It is not what did happen but what could have happened that is worse, and we are at the center of it all. It is the lack of control that expedited our suffering, something we are all too familiar with.

United States of America
"Strange Times" Digital collage printed on aluminum. At the end of March, 2020, I dreamed I was trying to put a hood over my cat Morpheus’s head to protect him from something toxic in the air. He didn’t understand that this was beneficial and was vigorously struggling with me. We had to go somewhere through the poisonous air and I was terrified I wouldn’t succeed in protecting him. Finally, I got the hood on him, picked him up and headed out into the toxic environment. I think I had a hood on also. I felt like now we might make it OK.

United States of America
On authentic dishes to set pages from 1944.. the words match the artwork “ Art of love “. We save water damaged fire damaged and spine broken books from all over the US. This particular piece reflects that no matter our losses during this pandemic one thing has and will remain a constant which can NOT be cancelled. LOVE

United States of America
(Commissioned Artist for the Americas COVID-19 Memorial) The empty nest", laser cut relief, gouache on wood, reclaimed banjo, 12"x38"x3", 2021; reflection of life falling apart during the course of the pandemic

United States of America
"mask bitter tasting" 35mm B/W Kodak 400tx on silverprint by italo-american photographer, writer and musician Cristiano Grim

United States of America

United States of America
Heroes 2020 41 x 34.5 inches Everyday workers were finally recognized for the importance of their work during the Covid-19 crises. Too long have those with money been touted as the pinnacle of our society. It is through the hard work of nurses, teachers, truck drivers, grocery clerks, first responders and many others that keeps our citizens alive. My hope is that, one day, when this plague is over, that same respect will be given to those that kept us alive and well during this time and that the earth, and its people will become stronger and kinder to one another.

United States of America
Stillness, Noise, Confusion, Fear, Anger, Disappointment, Frustration, Pain, Grief, Exhaustion, Hope.

United States of America
This is an art tile 7" x 7" on red clay with the glazes bulbed on with wax lines separating the glazes.. This art represents the physical and emotional weight that we feel as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic. To some degree, we all feel the need to seek shelter and quarantine from the rainstorm that the pandemic has brought upon us.

United States of America
"Social Distance", even though we are still impact by the Covina virus, we still can get together once in a while and meet up. Being able to dress-up makes a person feel better about his or hers self and just talking about things. Some companies find ways to be safe, by providing equipment like the long table in the art work. Enjoy.

Argentina
(Commissioned Artist for the Americas COVID-19 Memorial) In the Night, In the Day, At Every Hour (En la noche, en el día, a toda hora) This piece is a eulogy to what we lost during the pandemic, and the rate to which we are still losing so much. At the heart of this loss are our own people, and with them, their knowledge, and their part in our history. The disappearance of our elders, with their unspoken and meticulous skills and crafts, family stories, legends, wisdom, dances, songs, unique talents – never recorded, will be permanent. This sudden, silent, yet overwhelming loss is visible even more in those areas of the world that are subject to entrenched power games and systems and years of inequality. The effects of a merciless pandemic in Argentina, Peru, Brazil, and the region more generally, patently strike us as a result of the unforgiving fragility of the systems of protection and so many inescapable injustices, where the pandemic continues to make its way with no end in view. As a result, in addition to so many millions of deaths, it is the cultural and humanitarian loss in the region that we mourn, the loss of a future to dream on. The piece reflects on the enormity of the emergence of the pandemic, and the way it sweeps through in the form of a massive, unstoppable wave – dragging with it our people, their stories, their tacit way of embodying their culture, the effects of which we will only be able to start to grasp in years to come. Will the new landscape of losses inspire us to bring forward real and sustainable changes? Will we see sprouts of hope as the world starts to awaken from the shock of the loss, past and future? Will this be the real impetus for a change that is not dependent on the insatiable thirst for power?

United States of America

Mexico
There is and has been a symbiosis between the natural and the human, although the balance increasingly points to the exploitation and imbalance of nature and our own bodies by our own hands. However, our bodies are exposed to changes and mutations in our own environment and as a consequence our environment has been exposed to our way of living and consuming. Donna Haraway talks about the concept "Chthulucene", a noun made up of two Greek roots that "together name a type of space-time to learn to continue with the problem of living and dying responsibly in a damaged land." Our face, our identity and our tranquility have been altered by these modifications that we as humanity have made. The pandemic that we have experienced today has left a scar in our expression, in our way of living and thinking. Our "over-protection" has worked as a mask. A distant mask from the other and, therefore, from ourselves that perhaps ours has given us more problems and we have forgotten the problems of our environment that are also our problems. Spanish: Existe y ha existido una simbiosis entre lo natural y lo humano, aunque la balanza apunte cada vez más a la explotación y desequilibrio de la naturaleza y de nuestros propios cuerpos por nuestras propias manos. Sin embargo, nuestros cuerpos están expuestos a cambios y mutaciones de nuestro mismo entorno y como consecuencia nuestro entorno ha estado expuesto a nuestra forma de vivir y consumir. Donna Haraway habla sobre el concepto “Chthuluceno”, un sustantivo compuesto por dos raíces griegas que “juntas nombran un tipo de espacio-tiempo para aprender a seguir con el problema de vivir y morir con respons-habilidad en una tierra dañada”. Nuestra cara, nuestra identidad y nuestra tranquilidad se ha visto alterada por estas modificaciones que como humanidad hemos hecho. La pandemia que hoy hemos vivido ha dejado una cicatriz en nuestra expresión, en nuestra forma de vivir y pensar. Nuestra “sobre-protección” ha funcionado como máscara. Una máscara distante del otro y por ende, de nosotros mismos que quizás nos ha acercado más a nuestros problemas y hemos olvidado los problemas de nuestro entorno que también son nuestros problemas.

Chile
(Commissioned Artist for the Americas COVID-19 Memorial) "Tacet" is composed with two elements taken from the imaginary of sound as a physical phenomenon and music composition. Firstly, a spectrogram was generated from the recording of a real death rattle, a type of drowned breathing that appears in people who are in their last hours of life. Secondly, the musical indication "Tacet al fine" (from Latin, "He who remains silent until the end"), characteristic of the orchestral repertoire, which signals in the score the moment in which a musician must be silent, remaining like so until the end of the piece, while the rest of the orchestra continues playing. In musical composition, the idea of silence is also associated with “rest”, or simply put, a pause between two distinct sounds. In that sense, the work "Tacet" is nothing more than a symbolic manifestation of eternal rest, by referring to an explicit and natural “sound of death” and simultaneously to its linguistic representation in traditional musical scoring: Silence as the absence of life and at the same time as the absolute sound experience.

United States of America
Drawing by Jude Martinez, 8 years old from Lakewood Colorado

Brazil
(Commissioned Artist for the Americas COVID-19 Memorial) Screenshot from "Your Missing Words." View full video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzbN2IwqDSU

United States of America
Over seven years, I collected hundreds of rose petals from my mother’s rose garden. In this symbolic ceremony to honor and remember the lives lost to COVID- 19, I released the petals to the Pacific Ocean to begin their new journey merging into the infinite wonder of the water of Life – a somber, yet joyful moment. This video accompanies a larger EVOCATION installation artwork: https://youtu.be/mILU6i12BUI

United States of America
Bright green hand sanitizer with colors of light behind it . "Look at the bright side."

United States of America
This is a still from a series of videos. For the full description of the I Am Here For You project please visit http://www.sophiamunic.com/i-am-here-for-you

United States of America
#Thankshealthhereos, Oil on Canvas, 24" x 48", 2020. Statement: Urgent Importance, #thankshealthheroes is a body of work that consists of paintings that are collaborations between others; as we exchange photographs via Snapchat or Instagram or as we engage in Apple FaceTime interactions. Messages exchanged via digital communications travel through our brain and memory very quickly. By painting images of technology, I intend to reflect on our relationship to the instantaneous communications of social media platforms. Especially during this critical stay at home period, Facetime, Instagram and Zoom afford users instant views of each other, a vital connection during an isolation period. Paintings capturing such fleeting social interactions can offer an opportunity for reflection on the meaning of this urgent barrage of imaging and messages. My artwork provides a contemplative view of social media to craft a bridge that captures the nuance of ephemeral electronic images and messages. The series Urgent Importance, #thankshealthheroes as an exhibit reminds the viewer that reactions to the current tsunami of images and messages can be slowed, questioned, and while kept in the moment, offer reflection. Urgency in art and design is a way to test the limits of public tolerance. Because most people own a smartphone, society can define what it views as important. Currently selfies and images of healthcare workers are flooding our social media outlets with the deeper message that what is happening is urgent. In this time of urgency to return to "normal", I am struck by the shift in how we view the spectacle of social media and the disdain for the "selfie". We may not like it, but we have come to rely on technology, particularly social media, to connect with our friends, family, colleagues, and community.

United States of America
Riverdance is a reminder that the freedom of movement is precious. This Vase is fabricated from 10,658 separate pieces of Natural woods (Maple, Walnut, Red Heart, and Pau Amarello). It stands 25-1/2" tall and has a diameter of 11". All joinery is crafted and there are no fillers or pastes used. It's unique design incorporates my impression of rhythm in unison a goal we all should try to attain in todays world.

Peru
(Commissioned Artist for the Americas COVID-19 Memorial) Gray Suns refers to the strangeness that arose from the unexpected way in which our experience of time was disrupted as a consequence and reaction to the spread of Covid-19. There was a great pause and with it the dream of starting all over again, a detained present, loaded with as much expectation as fear for the next day.

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The pandemic was a shock to me, my community, and my country. While my job and income wasn't directly effected by lockdowns, many families and individuals were devastated. There was hope for many when the government mentioned a stimulus check. Skeptical, I doubted this would ever pan out. This collage was inspired by the early months of the pandemic and how desperate many Americans were to receive government aide.

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Radical Plein Air paintings done during the pandemic in hibernation

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When covid started I was trying to stay positive. I was hoping people would be more grateful for what they do have and not dwell on what they didn’t have thinking twice on what really matters most to them. I was hoping people would unite to fight a common cause and come together more as the “United” States of America. We are and yet we are not.

United States of America
acrylic on canvas, 30 x 40

Ecuador
(Commissioned Artist for the Americas COVID-19 Memorial) Passage. 20x25x9cm (approx.), paper made from ayahuasca in a display case. When considering these strange-painful-challenging times I could only think of renewal; renewal towards our present and future, a renewal needed to find the ground, the soil, the impulse to make life worthwhile. Hence, my memorial reflects on the 'pandemic times' by reminding us of this much needed reinvention.

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A familiar and ominous symbol of the pandemic, the microscopic image of the “Covid Spiky Ball” illustrates the composition of the cell of the deadly coronavirus. Protruding from the cell and named ‘corona’ after the Latin word for crown, those spikes bind to the receptor on a cell, becoming the conduit for the virus to infect the cell. As we have seen, this infection has caused illness, grief and unimaginable loss. Lane and Hannah wanted to turn the menacing idea of the “Covid Ball” on its head and instead create a piece of art that instead represents a return to hope, vitality and good fortune. To accomplish this, they repurposed an old light fixture, carefully shaping it to become a striking garden sculpture. Like the Covid Ball, whose surface features orange and yellow dots representing the myriad proteins on the cell, yellow sunflowers adorn the spherical surface of their piece. Cultivated for centuries for their nutritional and healing properties, sunflowers have also had a deep symbolic meaning throughout history. Their bright yellow petals, always turned toward the sun, symbolize happiness, hopefulness and longevity. Water also figures prominently in the composition of this garden piece. In the same way that handwashing can promote health and reduce illness, raindrops on the sunflower nourish the plant, increasing its strength and capacity to encourage those in its environment. An encounter with a field of sunflowers, with its bright petals and strong stalks, reminds everyone of the value of resilience and provides hope for a return to simple and lasting joy.

Brazil
Soup Is the material of heads Washing Brain But u shouud wash the hands !!!

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Monolith 56 is a inclusive tribute to the 56 US states, territories, and DC whom were all affected by Covid-19 this past year. The monoliths I collaged in this abstract digital artwork are sourced from actual monoliths built, stemming from the original Moab structure discovered in November 2020 (during the midst of the pandemic). I used each monolith in a semi-repeating pattern not only to represent every part of the US, but also to 1) remind us of escapism to nature while the pandemic was raging and 2) to represent an ongoing mountain range inspired by my home state of Colorado. I believe the statuesque nature of these monoliths act as a memorial to those lost across the US, and keep us in awe of the outdoors, and remind us how beautiful it is to be alive despite the tragedy of an ongoing pandemic.

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VICTIM of TRAFFICKING, DRUG ADDICTION, AND COVID This painting on glass is an effort to bring to light the plight of victims of human trafficking who are dying in large numbers from Covid and yet these stories remain untold and forgotten because they are the erroneously labelled the perpetrators when in fact, they are the ones objectified by those who buy and sell them like commodities. Human trafficking is the second largest and fastest growing crime in nearly every city of the global community. The victims are mostly women and children. The average age for a child getting trapped in sex trafficking is 11-13 years of age. United States is the largest consumer in the world for this heinous crime. While the rest of the community stays indoors to protect themselves from the fast moving Corona virus, I see young women in dark alleys and parks, standing in the cold, starving and glassy eyed from drugs, waiting for their customer so they can get more dope. People see these women on the street and turn their faces away, when in fact they need help more than any of us. They need a helping hand, a warm blanket, a safe home and some measure of love. I hope my glass rendering will bring attention to this marginalized ubiquitous community that everyone knows about but does not want to know. Thank you. -Hasna Sal

Canada
Title: The impact This is a pen drawing that depicts the moment when the pandemic started and how it affected social life. The pandemic dramatically spread without knowing what it really was. It was such a sudden attack and a shocking moment to digest the impact of the situation. As if our planet was struck by a huge asteroid, I started limiting my life and adjust the routine in a limited zone. We had no time to prepare for the disaster when we see the people who have lost their lives from COVID 19. We could only helplessly watch as the big crush hit on our tree.

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Life Under Lockdown - Brian's Bar and Grill. This image is from a series of photographs I created called "Glass to Glass." The title is from how the images were created - the camera lens was placed up to an exterior window. The series explores the places designed - through light and atmosphere - to bring people together to enjoy food and company, but without the people due to stay-at-home orders, or quarantine. What we're left with is a sense of longing, loss, and an apprehension as to whether, or not, we'll be able to return to what we know as normal. Everyone has a memory of being in a place like this.

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Collaborative animated poem by Drew Myron and Tracy Weil. Days Vanished, COVID-19 poems, 2021. SEE VIDEO HERE: https://vimeo.com/557223233 - High resolution video file available for 32" LED screen. Myron is a poet from Hood River, Oregon. Weil is a visual artist in Denver, Colorado. Myron and Weil have collaborated for over 30 years on various works. Source material by Rudyard Kipling, “A selection of his stories and poems” 1892. drewmyron.com, tracyweil.com

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“Feline Oasis” represents the eternal bonds we have with our pets. During lockdown pets reassured us that, though we might be masked, we are still the same - yearning for connection. That connection with our fur babies kept many of us sane during an unstable and crazy time.

Mexico
(Commissioned Artist for the Americas COVID-19 Memorial) Empty, removed or cancelled chairs became an evident symbol of how everyday life has changed during the pandemic. These speak of physical distance, the absence of bodies, lost lives and the suspension of different kinds of activities from recreational, social, spiritual, cultural and work related. The proposal consists of acquiring several types of chairs used in different kinds of places and occupations, ranging from restaurants, bars, museums, offices, domestic environments, barber shops, schools, airports, train stations, cinemas, shopping malls, banks, stadiums etc. If this memorial was to be built the Biennale of the Americas and other Institutions involved in the project would offer an economical compensation to the donors of the chairs (the type of exchange deal can vary depending if the donor is an individual, family business, school, corporation etc). These chairs would be anchored in public space with no possibility of moving them. The location of each chair would be dictated by finding a place as if the chair “should not be there” as a kind of disruption into the logic of the space but that still the chair could be safely used. This would exaltate the strangeness and displacement of the object in that location, that would be as varied as the provenance of the chairs. The only visually added element to the chairs would be a small copper plate with the legend “ Dedicated to ____”. Each donor of the chairs would dedicate it to someone else. This aims to erase the individual authorship on behalf of the other, even mine as an artist since I would donate the first chair. Because at the end the personal is collective and we should all support social collectivity. The proposal has the capacity to keep spreading across different geographical zones.

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My work is centered toward current global concerns and exploring the struggle between imagination and reason. The ambiguity in my work expresses the uncertainty of reality, our conscience has grown accustomed to creating labels for the things around us, - building the society we live in today. Virtual Series using acrylic paints on the backside of the canvas to create justifiable images to relate viewer’s own experience and expectation. Whether being real or unreal, far or near, the imageries in the paintings would only be perceived and formed by viewers’ knowledge and conception. This obscurity reflects the emotional uncertainty the many have experienced around world. The feeling of uncertainty has become a phenomenon and has ultimately distorted our perception of reality.

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I’d like to accompany my drawing with a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins where he describes a sleepless night. I’ve seen us waking up in the morning, but unable to go back to sleep again as we used to, trapped, doomed to lie awake, in these ‘black hours’. I wake and feel the fell of dark, not day. What hours, O what black hours we have spent This night! what sights you, heart, saw; ways you went! And more must, in yet longer light’s delay. With witness I speak this. But where I say Hours I mean years, mean life. And my lament Is cries countless, cries like dead letters sent To dearest him that lives alas! away. I am gall, I am heartburn. God’s most deep decree Bitter would have me taste: my taste was me; Bones built in me, flesh filled, blood brimmed the curse. Selfyeast of spirit a dull dough sours. I see The lost are like this, and their scourge to be As I am mine, their sweating selves; but worse.

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“What a Year of Lockdown 2020” Watercolors, ink, Acrylic on paper. 25,4cm X 38,1cm (10inX15in ). I create this artwork in the middle of lockdown time. I never thought or know about Pandemic situation means. I never experience in my life time before unstill the year of 2020. When all the Countries from around world canceled, closed, and pause. My son had a hard time with viral study, he couldn’t see and play with his friends (for a year now). My husband has to works at home (for a year now). We couldn’t go visit any family. And we all live in a small places together just three of us. The best thing that I can do to help each other is love, support, and look after each other like 24 hours every day. Keep each other healthy both body and mind. We all have a difficult time, stress, depress in many way from all over the world. I was worried about my Laos family, my dad is old and sick in South East Asian. All of these stress in my mind wouldn’t stop running inside my head. As the artist this is an unusual situation. I have to find the way to express my feelings, my imagination, and my emotion into art. It is only way that can help me not to gone crazy and keep going with life that we are facing with Covid-19.

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(Commissioned Artist for the Americas COVID-19 Memorial) Kokdu River. In traditional Korean funeral processions, every person would receive an elaborate boat adorned with guardians riding animals that were meant to guide them safely to the spirit realm. These processions were a part of every funeral, no matter what class the person had belonged to while alive. As we've said countless goodbyes during the tragedy of the pandemic, it's important to wish and pray for a safe journey to those who need to travel on to the next dimension. This piece illustrates the journey of the kokdu and those that follow them.

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Healing is a necessary human experience. With the coronavirus pandemic emphasizing death in isolation, we are robbed of healing, of processing forward with the dead, moving as a group with a body from one realm (life) into the other (death). I believe in our collective human conscience we are trying to find healing as we assess and mourn our incredible losses. Throughout history and today, the candlelight vigil is used as a dignified way of uniting a community through honoring, celebrating, memorializing, showing support for a cause, and for collective processing and honoring life. My Vigil paintings offer a space to experience a moment of reverence and remembrance for lives lived and lost over this past tumultuous year and a half. Individually each painting is on an oval format, painted on Dibond abstractly on the front, and with vinyl Flashe paint on the verso to achieve the effect of a surrounding glow. Each oval represents the light of a small candle, dancing with vibrant and joyful colors and shapes. An entire wall of the paintings in the candlelight vigil series creates an illusion of light to acknowledge the collective emotional healing process through the act of holding vigil. I invite my viewer to experience color and light and hold in memory and reverence our collective human losses and collective gratitude. I am an American abstract painter working with oil paint and epoxy resin, an exciting and sometimes unforgiving combination that allows me to experiment with transparency and color in unique ways. A wall of 30 of these vigil paintings will be displayed as part of a solo exhibition titled "A Line Doesn't End with Me," at the Athenaeum, Alexandria, Virginia, USA this July 1-August 8, 2021.

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Casualties and Manipulative Spirits of Covid-19. Color pencil and charcoal on canvas. SHORT POEM on the attached image. The icy fingers from hades pulling the worms that manipulate mortal reason. The dark recess of civility ignites. The soiled darkness that we fear most is upon us. An explosion devoid of light but darkness. We all become victims of cruel creatures of death.

Canada
"Cranberry Sauce or Bare Necessities." Oil painting 30x40 inches. The painting refers to the necessity of the reconsideration of historical and cultural traditions for the adaptation to an emerging life situation. In the process of evolution, some rituals were compromised, while others were carried on. The artwork is questioning the human ability to distinguish between preservation of the cultural tradition and resistance to embrace the evolving way of social living.

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This knalrled tree still standing is rooted in solid rock. The ravages of time (covid) have weathered it, the clouds are dark around it but it is still standing with a unique characteristic that is a memorial to faith, beauty, and other virtues that outlast the ravages of life. Trees have also been planted as memorials for those who have died so this is a living memorial and the rocks are memorial markers for those who have been lost.

Mexico
(Commissioned Artist for the Americas COVID-19 Memorial) Darwin's Arch 1835 - 2021. Darwin maintains in his revolutionary theory of the evolution that adaptation to changes has been the main survival mechanism for millions of years, being able to adapt to a different environment or that your body creates defense mechanisms to deal with new viruses and bacteria are essential elements for survival. This year our body, our mind, our society has undergone an unprecedented survival test, which exposed everything that is simply unnatural about our unequal access to health, the unnatural of our consumption and the definitively antisocial of our design of society. This year the weakest did not die, nor did the strongest survive, this year we revealed as the species that will be in charge of ending everything because of its individualism and predatory greed.

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(Commissioned Artist for the Americas COVID-19 Memorial) Mutual Aid of the Earth. Giving attention to the origins of both food and art, I analyze what it means to decolonize art, art history, and consumption. Through Xicanx veganism, I find interest in the decolonization of one’s diet, or a desire to reclaim the pre-colonial plant-based nourishment of my ancestors. Throughout the pandemic, we have seen a rise in mutual aid efforts, whether it be health care, providing groceries, sustaining organizations working towards social justice, and more. Mutual aid is based on concepts of solidarity and community care that are required when the systems of power that exist fail to support our basic human needs. It’s about taking responsibility to care for one another--compassionate cooperation rather than capitalistic competition--the whole rather than the individual. This work speaks of our shared experiences and mutual aid that the earth gifts us, and that we may then share with each other, whether it be plants, food, seeds, or herbs. The hands share corn and the mouths share beans to demonstrate the sharing of resources and goods. The eyes share a trail of calabaza seeds speaking of the collective grieving that we have endured this past year. The palette is inspired by the land and water of the planet that gives us life. The seeds and leaves represented come from las Tres Hermanas, or the Three Sisters: corn, beans, and squash, that have long been sacred Indigeous food staples. They work harmoniously as companions in the garden and in our bodies so that we may survive and thrive. When grown together, the corn provides a stalk for the beans to climb, the beans provide nitrogen to the soil, and the squash leaves provide shade to the roots. This lesson we gain from plants is that when we mutually care for one another and work collectively, we grow stronger.

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As a Family we wanted to memorialize the tough times we were having during covid 19. We were so blessed to be able to have time together. We didn't want to forget how challenging things were, but also wanted to stay positive.

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“Wrong Women, Myths from Sky” series follows the metaphysical pilgrimage of the nude marginal woman/heroine through the kaleidoscopic labyrinth of time, space and nature as she must learn to navigate through forces of opposition and adversity (worldly obstacles exemplified through various conceptualized physical bodily trials) in order to overcome and find herself. The artworks act as part biographical expose, addressing the universal struggles of the marginal identity thereby helping transform through the power of empathy, inspiration, and empowerment.

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(Commissioned Artist for the Americas COVID-19 Memorial) COVID-19 has forever changed humanity. Its effect on the Western hemisphere though, has been unique, creating a challenge for memorializing this moment. The goal of this memorial is to create a speculative space to grieve, reflect, remember, and document this time, acknowledging the various ways the pandemic has impacted our lives. There are three primary symbolic elements of this memorial: water as a receptacle for memory; a forest referencing both the preciousness of breath and significance of nature as a place of solace and refuge during the pandemic; and portals which reference the importance of shared experience and the ways that our bodies have navigated space over the past year. The portals are two black domes, each surrounded by its own watercourse and an earthen bridge leading up to its entrance. The smaller dome can host one person at a time and houses a recording booth for visitors to document their personal experience during the pandemic. The larger dome can hold up to 100 people with spaces to sit and stand. This darkened space has one entryway and a separate exit. It features an expansive night sky projected on the inside of the dome. The narratives recorded in the smaller dome will be witnessed in this space, transforming individual memories into collective ones. As visitors exit the larger dome, they access a field with curved benches. These benches can seat up to six people and are six feet (1.8 m) from each other symbolizing social distancing and pod formation. This area encourages memory sharing and connection among small groups. The surrounding forest serves as a space for walking, meditation and reflection. Trees create and release oxygen through photosynthesis, making them an apt metaphor for commemorating those lost to the devastating effects of COVID-19 on the respiratory system.

Egypt
Visual Art ) (100*100 cm ) (Acrylic on canvas) ( 2021

United States of America
Aak’ab Balam Oil on Canvas 48”X60”X2” Artist: Arturo Garcia Narrative of the Painting Aak’ab Balam represents healing, peace and harmony. It is an explosion of life with a strong sense of peace. In this tree of life, oneness reigns. There is much harmony, the colors come together to create movement, the subjects interact, become one. There is a sense of calmness; a rebirth. • The jaguar represents the COVID pandemic under control. • The hummingbirds represent the souls of those who perished to COVID. • There are three quetzals, two are returning from opposite directions, while one is peacefully resting near the jaguar perched on top of the tree, talking to the boy assuring him everything is well. • The boy represents the human spirit: Intelligent, brave, curious, amicable and dominant. • The trunk of the tree of thick bark is as old as universe itself, a sentinel of times, keeping watch, hosing life, witnessing change, protecting. Two moons guard the night. One wasn’t enough for the long night that lingered, awaiting for peace to arrive. It finally did. • There is a Chac Mol to the far right in the depth of the forest where a jaguar rests peacefully. It represents the human sacrifice, and the dreadful odyssey endured. The Technique Aak’ab Balam was painted with handmade oil paints and applied with palette knives on stretched cotton canvas. Its dimensions are: 4’high by 5’ wide wrapped around a 2” frame. The Artist Arturo Garcia is a full-time artist living in Denver, Colorado. Wildlife, the American West and the Tree of Life series are among his most recurring subjects. His vision is to spark a spiritual dialog with his art. Arturo Garcia has shown his paintings in France, Mexico, and the United States where he lives with his family. To find out more, visit www.arturogarciafineart.com

Mexico
My artwork was birthed during the peak of the pandemic. Upon my arrival to Mexico City after losing a scholarship in the United States in early 2017 it hadn’t been until the year 2020 that I was financially able to sustain my academic career once more. As news spread that a newly virus had emerged it wasn’t until late February that we knew our normality no longer existed. People were losing jobs, education was moved online and the death toll began to rise. During this time, my motivation for school and life itself had diminished; so much that my grades and finances started to reflect this sudden change causing me to drop school for good. After a long hiatus from art, I was reconnected with this form of expression thanks to my Architecture courses. Weeks after leaving school, I reflected on my new experiences in Mexico and my old life in the United States with “SENSORYOVERLOAD”. My artwork touches base on the hypersensitive reality many citizens in Mexico City experienced before COVID. Religion and faith are common themes engraved in our culture that help us stay protected and persevere while we maneuver this concrete jungle where: Vice and Violence can easily be found. This illustrated collage gives a twist of our lives before and mixes it with the overwhelming reality we know now. Highlighting the fact that even with COVID’s existence none of this goes away but rather in the midst of chaos, we are forced to look at reality for what it is and find peace within ourselves even if the world throws us a SENSORYOVERLOAD.

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REBIRTH by Adriana Rondón-Rivero (Venezuelan visual artist based in LA). Technique: photo and video performance. Watch video on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpH3rUBTA2M - I am the seed that they discarded, the seed they never thought would grow. I will be reborn - In the span of a year and a half I have lost three loved ones. In December 2019, shortly before the pandemic reached the USA, my father died. A thrust to the heart. Then it was my aunt. And the day I took this photo, Friday May 29th, 2021, my uncle also died in Venezuela, my country, because of COVID. I couldn't say goodbye to any of them. I couldn't hug any of them before they left. This photograph is part of a video - photo performance. A reminder of the life-death-life cycle. COVID is many things for me. It made me connect with a kind of force very underground and full of life in the dark and the hardest moments of pain. Love life and a wordless understanding of death. During this same span of time, I have been close to death twice. I could feel it. COVID came to remind me of the power of love and how in moments of pain, love is the force that holds us and in moments of joy, love is the pleasure and enjoyment of sharing and celebrating life. It also made me live in my own body the healing power of rest, of lying on the ground and literally feeling that I give myself to it. How vital is to take a break; not having agendas, surrendering to the unknown; to have time in silence and darkness with oneself to really know oneself. To accept that life is movement and that there is light in darkness and vice versa.

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This piece was made not long after January 6, when I and the rest of who's rational and paying attention in the United States felt at our lowest. 2021 had begun, but it was always silly to think 2020 wouldn't bleed into it a little. Despite how much better some things have gotten, there's still a feeling of paranoia and some kind of excited anguish from each of us. This piece can represent those of us who pay attention to, and fear the world outside. But it can also represent those who want to hurt us, because they're fearful and shaken too. In a country where fighting with idiocy has become a key part of moving into the future, it's understandable to retreat into seclusion from the virus and from the violence of each other.

Mexico
Please watch this video that I prepared about the process and history of the piece. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n66CD_qbPGI

Colombia
(Commissioned Artist for the Americas COVID-19 Memorial) María José Arjona’s most recent work finds its genesis in drawings, collages, sketches, sheets and objects, which delve into the investigation and conception of a cosmology; where the desire to express the ineffable of existence, the condition of the body in space, and the notion of time lies incessantly; recurring themes in her work. Arjona combines and converges in this work a series of ideas that she has individually explored in previous works, especially through performance (which is the core of her artistic work and her means of expression par excellence), and which she takes up from another perspective, opening to a new territory of experimentation with materiality, as a necessary process stage prior to the performatic act, and which before its final culmination, must pass through several stages of evolution; resulting in an extensive project that will mature as it travels. In these drawings, the artist inscribes cosmogonic symbols and concepts that speak about the origin of the Universe and its meaning. The drawings that are perceived individually conform a diagram, a large constellation that relates these elements as a set, and that will serve as a guide in the interpretation of the objects and installations that will be part of the subsequent collective performative activation; where these signs will come alive in the physical bodies that will stage this compendium of realities. The symbols that make up the drawings, represent - as archetypes - a series of forces that move the body and which the artist proposes and represents in five categories of horizontal planes: The beyond; The cosmos; The fog, the Earth and the Infra-World; which in turn are connected by an “Oracle” that has the great power to transit each space generating a vertical line, connecting each other.

Canada
(Commissioned Artist for the Americas COVID-19 Memorial) Nowhere But Here (Three Women). Move forward, go back. Stay in, go out. Do this, don’t do that. Overwhelming paralysis marked the beginning of the COVID19 pandemic, throwing the future into doubt seemingly overnight. To leave home was to perhaps invite contagion, yet being locked in was frightening. Uncertainty ultimately gave way to grief, reopening old wounds as death tolls and infection rates climbed every higher at every stage of the pandemic. Conversely, this transformed into a time of healing and gratitude, for family and friendships, for those who marched bravely for racial justice, for the conversations around ways forward. Suddenly, the everyday became inspirational. Quiet moments were filled with grace, daily walks motivating for both art and mental health. A difficult year became one about togetherness and belonging. On a personal note, this has been a year of deep introspection as an artist and a person, drawing me closer to the most important people in my life, while expanding my art practice. Nowhere But Here (Three Women), similarly to my work from the past year, is personal and semi-autobiographical. It is my response to a pandemic that everyone has experienced at the same time, though not necessarily in the same way. I have spent this past year at home isolating with my family comprising my mother, my sister, and our dog. Domesticity is integral to my practice; thus, my work serves as a continuous pandemic diary. My own exploration of where exactly I belong, straddling two different cultures and religions as I do, whilst living in a third culture, is something I continue to examine. A year of confinement at home has brought forth these themes in my work. Thus, I am memorialising the small things, the domestic details, the quiet moments that emerged in the horrific tragedy of the COVID19 pandemic.

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The impulse for this installation materialized over several decades. It began with the first roses I saved –a red bouquet my from my parents at the opening of my first photography exhibit. Years later, I saved some small vials – just because they were wonderful. Years passed and I was in a thrift store and bought the printer’s drawers. They reminded me of my uncle. My mother told me that my uncle’s life was spared in the Nazi concentration camp, because he was a printer and could be put to work. Ideas and images whispered in my mind - about placing the vials in the drawers, about creating a piece in remembrance of my family murdered in the Holocaust during WW II. But what goes into those vials? I had no answer. And I wasn’t ready to dive into that difficult topic – too much pain in that past as well as in my own life. In 2013 I started taking care of my 97-year-old father in my parents’ house in Los Angeles. My father had just undergone a traumatic experience that altered him completely. It was a painful time. What brought me solace and joy were the eleven rose bushes in my mother’s garden. The roses reminded me of my mother, whom I cherished. I brought bouquets inside to smell and touch. It’s what made the days bearable and sustained me during this tragic time. Once dried, I put them in grocery bags and stored them. My father passed on in August 2014. I continued to save the rose petals until July 2020. Sometime during those years, my answer arrived: the dried rose petals would go into the vials and become rose garlands – visceral metaphors for love, devotion, celebration, joy, and tragic loss. I began working on this installation in the summer of 2020 to memorialize our world’s current global catastrophe - a tragedy of epic proportion. I affirmed the power of Love as I filled each vial with crushed rose petals and strung each petal on its thread, in dedication and remembrance of those lives lost to this COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-2021.

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(Commissioned Artist for the Americas COVID-19 Memorial) Rose River Memorial: Covid Victims of the Americas is dedicated to all those who have been lost to Covid in the Americas. One person from each of the 34 nations that has experienced deaths from Covid was chosen to represent the more than 1.5 million and rising, Covid deaths in the region. Each rose has been specially crafted and ribbons attached to represent the flag colors of the particular nation, as well as name, age and date of passing of each person. Sometimes general statistics leave us numb which is why actual names have been included. One of the 34 roses is dedicated to more than one person. It honors frontline doctor twins Kevin and Jenneth Guerra from Belize, who died at the age of 33, one day apart from each other. The 34 roses were crafted through a community collaboration with the West Hollywood Brownies Troop #2825, led by Lindsay Calac. The Rose River Memorial is lead by artist Marcos Lutyens and has been active around the US, creating memorials with the community in several states including California, Kansas, Missouri, Texas, Hawaii, with the ultimate goal of creating a nation-scale memorial of one rose for each person who has passed from Covid to be exhibited in Washington DC. As a psychomagic process, inspired by filmmaker Alejandro Jodowosky, the project aims to help with grieving and healing and we are grateful for being given the opportunity to extend this process into the Americas Region.The project has been especially supported in this regard by artist curator Marisa Caichiolo. The netting which has coral growth on it was pulled from the waters of the marine sanctuary of Kaho’olawe by Dean Tokishi. This helps protect animal species while showing our efforts at Rose River Memorial are social as well as ecological.

Mexico
During the pandemic I was able to experience a humanized side of the coin. I was able to give birth surrounded by love and respect. However, obstetric violence rose considerably. It is an issue that must be put on the agenda. Title: Amor, quiebre y jirones. Ink on paper.

United States of America
Comfort In Exile - oil on panel - 32 x 40 inches. During the long stretch of time when our collective consciousness was dominated by the pandemic, we found ourselves imprisoned within the ourselves. For those lucky enough to have homes, and jobs (or vocations) that allowed them to work from home, the sanctum sanctorum of domestic bliss became a kind of gilded cage. The walls that enfolded our bodies in relative safety also altered the parameters of our minds. For some, it was a grim sentence of solitary confinement. For others, the profound sense of dislocation became a ticket for an internal train ride, through the mountain passes of memory, to the seat of their souls. It has often been observed, every crisis carries the seeds of opportunity. Let us hope that this means not simply financial opportunism, but some form of revelation.

United States of America
(Commissioned Artist for the Americas COVID-19 Memorial) “The center of gravity” is a painted memorial for all of the lives lost and all of those who suffered across geographical, political and cultural boundaries and borders due to the Covid-19 virus. It was a year of great loss, immense suffering, and deep isolation. For many, it was also a year of reflection, kindness, and gratitude. This work speaks to the layers of complexity of experience felt by all of us and offers the love of a mother and child as a metaphor for the strength and endurance of the human spirit. The figures are surrounded by Covid “models” which hold them captive, speaking to the proliferation of the virus and its all-encompassing effect on our lives. The bubbles reflect the spheres of closed isolation we occupied. Yet the virus models are re-envisioned as floral motifs suggesting a new age of verdant life. There is an absence and presence of bodies as we remember those lost. The faces are present but the bodies are absent as family, friends and community were estranged during this time. The absence of the bodies is intended to shed light on the lives of those whose pain has been invisible and communities who have suffered the most. Yet the bonds of family give us hope of a safer and more hospitable world. As the US emerges from the devastation, we must remember that we are privileged since many countries are now entering their worst phase of the pandemic.

United States of America
In the Colorado and New Mexico, Hispanos pray to a patron Saint to help those who are ill. Saint Damien of Molokai, Hawaii is the patron Saint for those with a severe illness. I created this “retablo” for those with Covid. It is Saint Damien who contracted leprosy after taking care of those infected.

United States of America
This pandemic puts us all in the same place at the same time. It brings together our individual and non-transferable experiences and makes us either feel very close to death or very grateful for life. Participation in this project brought me the possibility of a deeper thought in search of an explanation for this lived experience. It's been weeks trying to find ways and words that represented my still confused feeling about the pandemic. I thought of the Earth that still rotates the same way and the sun and the moon that remain in the same place. I thought there's something new that stirs the whole world. I thought this virus moved each one in a different way. I thought about this transformation as a force acting in each person's life. Then came the question – of how things were before and after in the time of each one and our relationship with nature, others and us. There were numerous articles read and news watched. There were countless calls and text messages to family and friends. Tiredness overcame me. I thought I would not be able to express the feelings of what I lived through. It was needed a lot of paper and pen, there were many attempts between drawings, clippings, collages and colors. The trash can, under my desk, overflowed with unfinished ideas. I needed breaks and I needed time. The thought evolved, but suddenly what I had just created and that seemed to make sense was lost in the greatness of the tragedy that kept pouring every day. I then found a way through the words and feelings that echoed all around us, allowing myself to finish the idea of the project. Heloisa dos Devaneios LIFE, 2021 Paper, 210X297 Heloisa dos Devaneios LIVES, 2021 Paper, 210X297

United States of America
During the past year of isolation and feelings of helplessness I have been deeply connected to creating art as a source of comfort and healing. While isolating at home I found an old tattered American flag that reminded me of the universal hardships we are all going through across our country and around the world. I wanted to wrap the flag around me as if I was connecting and comforting not only Americans but also use our strength to support countries around the world. I see the flag as a symbol of our country unified in healing, rebuilding and helping the world recover and forge ahead. I have always been drawn to creating heavily layered and detailed works so I deconstructed the flag while upcycling bits of discarded fabrics and old beads by hand sewing and hand beading every inch of the collage tapestry. I incorporated hundreds of Thai Buddha amulets, crystals and evil eyes as symbols of good luck and unity. The hours and months of work gave me great comfort and helped me feel I was spiritually trying to help the world’s struggles with the pandemic.

United States of America
The artwork submitted was created in May of 2020 while recovering from covid-19 - The image has woven into its forms the text life and death. The illness itself having created a tenuous balance between the two states this image became the best form of expressing the both the effects and challenge associated with recovery.. Because of the grip of the illness this is the only creative work I produced from March 26 to May 30th 2020.