The Pre- and Post-Pandemic:

February 20, 2023

Each moment we spend fixated on our differences is another moment wasted and one that’s defining the Post-Pandemic Era, a singular time in history

in which we possess a deep understanding of the impact of our behaviors on ourselves and the planet, yet still have a chance to secure a sustainable future for both. ~ LW

Pandemic Sheds Light

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic unambiguously illuminated the severity of the ecological and humanitarian crises facing us and the planet today.

For the first time in history, a human-triggered event shut down every country on earth nearly instantly, issuing a massive wake-up call for humanity.

In 2021, the United Nations released its Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report on the current state of the planet:

• • CO2 is at its highest in 2 million years
  • We have lost 60% of our wildlife population in the last 50 years.
  • The last decade was the hottest in the last 125,000 years.
  • In just over 10 years, we have lost as much forest as we have in the last 9,000 years.

A 2 degrees Celsius increase in earth’s temperature will result in the loss of 99% of all coral reefs, and will create 3 billion new climate refuges warn 500 scientists worldwide. Yet, our habits are such that we are depleting the Earth’s resources at a rate that is 1.8 times higher than its regenerative capacity.

Marrow of the Moment:

In spite of the alarm bells, we continue to spend our energy, attention and resources on condemning each other for our differences. We are hating more; we are more intolerable. It is the second month of year and there have been 33 mass shootings in the US to date.

Rather than address our own biases and shortcomings, or carbon footprint, or habits of consumption, we continue to obsess about each other’s choices and differences, and the violation that they are different than ours.

We are perpetuating toxic mentalities in the midst of acutely pressing societal and ecological challenges, the irony and absurdity is that of a comic tragedy.

Our shared struggles will require us to put aside our differences and come together under a common purpose.

Pre-pandemic Work:

My interest in recording the natural abstraction of landscape environments began 10 years ago with Surface Surveys, a series of photographic studies of desert physiographies from around the world as they exist in their natural form. Beauty’s fundamental connection to nature inspired my foray into visual arts.

This connection pushes me to investigate new dimensions of creativity to include a measurable, positive impact on our world.

I am not the same person I was before the pandemic. I do not see the world in the same way.

“Luxuriate in Discomfort” Bridges Pre – Post Pandemic

In 2018, I began work on Luxuriate in Discomfort, an exploration into the phenomena of rejection and oppression via a discomfort practice. The work continued into the pandemic, becoming first LWS conceptual installation.

Post-pandemic Work:

LWS post-pandemic works directly address our attention and habits in the present-day. Harnessing new technologies and materials, I’m creating works that can be experienced physically and digitally in unimaginable ways far into the future that provide a look back onto the post pandemic era.