Untitled (180,000 Lost and Counting) August 26, 2020
ID: A chlorophyll print of an empty hospital bed. Printed on a heart-shaped hosta leaf.
In March of 2020, my fear of catching the Coronavirus became palpable. “Don’t worry,” an acquaintance assured me “only the sick and elderly will die.”
I am chronically ill and immunocompromised. I Don’t Want To Paint A Silver Lining Around It is my personal reflection on being high risk in the pandemic. It is also my response to the outside world’s demand that disabled people be acceptable losses for personal convenience or for corporate profit.
Through chlorophyll printing, which uses UV light to print photographic images directly onto leaves, I connect disability and nature to claim disability as a valuable part of human diversity.
Chlorophyll prints (where one print/exposure may take anywhere from 8- 72 hours) are created through a cooperative relationship with the organic materials and the environment. It is a process that celebrates care, interdependence, slowness, and adaptability - values of belonging I find in the disability community.
The fact that chlorophyll prints are impermanent, and will continue to decay over time, underscores the interdependence and bodily impermanence we all share.