Artist Statement

"When people put clothes on their bodies, they are primarily engaged in making pictures of themselves to suit their own eyes, out of the completed combination of clothing and body." —Anne Hollander, Seeing Through Clothes

What we wear every day cannot help but be an expression of ourselves; our unique concept of who we are and how we are seen. Our individual identity includes making a daily choice of what we will wear and how we will present ourselves to the world. 

Some of the most striking images from the Covid pandemic have been of rows and rows of identical body bags and and of similar appearing bodies clad in hospital gowns hooked to ventilators. Families were not allowed to touch their loved ones as they died or dress the bodies afterwards. One of the tragedies of the pandemic is the crushing anonymity of the way in which its victims died. 

My show is an attempt to make these losses real and to memorialize these distinctive personalities and identities of some of those who died by examining their clothing. I have gathered pictures of those who died of Covid from various websites, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media and created paintings of the outfits that they wore. If there was more than one image, I chose one that they seemed to be most comfortable or happy in, or at least what they allowed themselves to be photographed wearing. I felt privileged to be allowed to know in a small way this diverse group of distinctive and much-beloved people. They were all special to someone.