As a visual artist, I want to honor the places providing us shelter right now.
The premise of my postponed solo ‘Den of the Wild Human’ came from my challenging transition to working from home when I started painting — on top of feeling half-crazed taking on this new life path, I had to create the physical space that gave me the mental space to nurture this change.
Now the COVID-19 pandemic has made domestic spaces our sole and often solitary place to live all parts of our lives. Stay-at-home scenes now conjure a collective awareness of this time in our history. From shelters against the elements to sacred places for dreaming up future realities, for many, our homes have become our central place of being during lockdowns. Since my city’s stay-at-home announcement, I have been painting submissions of stay-at-home scenes and sharing the stories of the people living in them. Beginning with a monochrome palette, I gradually include additional colors to draw attention to an overly familiar space. The vibrancy of the paintings celebrate how the same four walls we’ve been looking at are sheltering us.
As this daily series continues, the unfolding of our collective coping reveals a reckoning of emotions - from spiraling anxiety to bashful gratitude. During this time when we can’t be together physically, I hope these glimpses at lives simultaneously lived alongside our own grant us kinship.
Much health and safety to everyone.
xo Diana
(Excerpts below. View the entire series, Shelter Me Shelter You, here.)
Day 4 | “Before the pandemic, living alone offered a great respite from society. Now it’s threatening to become a personal hell of loneliness. But on the bright side my apartment has never been cleaner, and I’ve gotten pretty good at making homemade pasta! Next step: bread.”
— Sam in Seattle, Washington
Day 7 | “I’ve been ringing press secretaries and politicians in my tiny shoebox and watching live-streams of the Director General of Health report increasing cases of the pandemic, though only 6 in hospitals. The guy I’m seeing w a long three musketeers goatee came over for a final snug and sadly this is how I will remember him for the next month. I’ve bought a stick blender and a snorkeling kit and am gonna wiz some frozen bananas and go peruse the shallow parts of the deep blue sea when this lockdown is over and I can again trapeze around this pacific island in said muskateer’s van.”
— Julie in Wellington, New Zealand
Day 13 | “If everything had gone on as planned, I’d be in the UK right now where I had planned to hunker down for a few weeks to do some research, studio visits, and sort of do a self-imposed residency—mostly in Scotland this time around. I’ve leaned into the nomadic lifestyle over the last year especially. Normally my apartment, a two-bedroom upper in a little blue collar Wisconsin town, is let out to AirBnb tenants while I’m away. Now I find myself back here and utilizing a space I’ve hardly been in over the past year, and remembering how much I love the light in here…”
— Kate in Outagamie County, Wisconsin
Day 15 | “My kids know there’s a new illness and that since it’s so new there’s no medicine for it yet. They know we’re staying away from family and friends to give the doctors and scientists time to make that medicine…Those we know who have contracted COVID-19 so far appear to be recovering. But I know not everyone is so fortunate. And without widespread testing and with PPE and other medical equipment in very short supply, I’m concerned about what comes next.”
— Sarah in St. Louis, Missouri
Day 24 | “Honestly my personal experience changes everyday. I waver between gratitude, grief, anger and guilt. The end of 2019 was a strange one, I was in a really toxic working environment and when I became unemployed...I was focused on making 2020 a better year. I was so excited about my new job, my upcoming wedding, the election…I hope that in the rush back to ‘normalcy’ we remember that some things desperately need to be revisited…”
— Masha in San Francisco, California
Day 38 | “I find it hard these days to stay focused for long periods of any consequence. At first it was easier to just put my head down, seclude myself, and work. I think I had a false sense that it would either be over sooner and some normality would return. Or perhaps I just didn’t understand how much of my life was a simple routine, and how that routine really masked a real understanding of time. The length of a day is different now. These days, I need to break up the work, and break up my day into clear segments. Everything is uncertain, nothing is a given. I guess it’s always like that. I just am realizing it more frequently. Week 6 begins.”
— MJ in St. Louis, Missouri
Day 51 | “When the pandemic began in China and the lockdown happened in January, I was starting to worry about my family. For years we have had a weekly video call so they kept me updated as things progressed. We stayed cautious here in the United States too, and I began limiting our outings in January. I desperately want everything to go back to normal soon…”
— Wendy in Westborough, Massachusetts
Follow along to this daily series on Instagram.
