Collected Item: “The Daily Commute”
Give your story a title.
The Daily Commute
What sort of object is this: text story, photograph, video, audio interview, screenshot, drawing, meme, etc.?
Painting that I did for a Visual Arts class at Fordham Univeristy
Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you.
I composed this piece for my Painting I class around the start of the pandemic when everything was still surreal. If I did a piece on COVID now, it would be entirely different. Nevertheless, I think the general tone of this piece shows how I and most likely many others have experienced the pandemic.
I decided to place this scene on the Subway since New York City was the epicenter of COVID-19, and like COVID, the Subway is known as "the great equalizer". The tightness of space on a subway also gives the feeling of being trapped, which has been a pretty universal feeling during this time, not to mention the acute awareness of germs that one has both on the subway and during COVID.
I was also inspired by the art that came from the Black Plague depicting 'witch' doctors and skeletons and wanted the figures I painted to mimic that sense of doom. Each figure represents a different feeling or character that has solidified itself in our COVID centered lives. I am sure many people can relate to the shag of hair bent over a computer as we navigate online classes and jobs, or to the sympathetic limp glove that essential workers wear everyday, or to the three characters that both warn and frighten us.
I hope that at the end of this pandemic we can look back to what has come out of peoples' restlessness and suffering, and resolve to live in care of others to prevent future tragedies.
#ForhamUniveristy
I decided to place this scene on the Subway since New York City was the epicenter of COVID-19, and like COVID, the Subway is known as "the great equalizer". The tightness of space on a subway also gives the feeling of being trapped, which has been a pretty universal feeling during this time, not to mention the acute awareness of germs that one has both on the subway and during COVID.
I was also inspired by the art that came from the Black Plague depicting 'witch' doctors and skeletons and wanted the figures I painted to mimic that sense of doom. Each figure represents a different feeling or character that has solidified itself in our COVID centered lives. I am sure many people can relate to the shag of hair bent over a computer as we navigate online classes and jobs, or to the sympathetic limp glove that essential workers wear everyday, or to the three characters that both warn and frighten us.
I hope that at the end of this pandemic we can look back to what has come out of peoples' restlessness and suffering, and resolve to live in care of others to prevent future tragedies.
#ForhamUniveristy
Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your story. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?
#FordhamUniversity,
Who originally created this object? (If you created this object, such as photo, then put "self" here.)
Schuyler Workmaster
Give this story a date.
2020-09-16