Stand & Witness: Art in the Time of COVID-19

Temporary Exhibitions Gallery

June 17 – October 25, 2024

In many ways, artists are first responders—to repurpose a term often used in public health and emergency response. Soon after shutdowns began in March 2020, artists took to their studios, desks and Zoom to bear witness and to process the global COVID-19 experience. Throughout the pandemic, they continued to serve on the emotional frontlines of COVID-19 interpretation.

Unlike the 1918 influenza pandemic, which is often referred to as the “forgotten pandemic,” COVID-19 took place in an era of global connectiveness and social media, allowing for shared artistic production. While scientists were working to understand the science of the novel SARS-CoV-2, artists adapted their practices to process their individual and collective experiences.

Many artists leaned into the disruption that COVID-19 caused to our lives, discovering innovative strategies to interpret the impact of the pandemic on individuals and society. Some artists investigated the heartbreak, poignancy, and isolation of the pandemic, while others turned to humor. Novelists and poets created narratives and poems woven with words referencing the pandemic. When theaters and other venues were forced to close, performers found new ways to stage their productions.

Stand & Witness: Art in the Time of COVID-19 brings together an international group of artists, poets, authors, and performers to help us understand this collective journey. As the COVID-19 experience continues to ripple through our memories, this exhibition serves as a witness of those times.

The title Stand & Witness is excerpted from “from Trading Riffs to Slay Monsters,” a poem by Yusef Komunyakaa and Laren McClung published in Four Quartets: Poetry in the Pandemic, Tupelo Press, 2020. Quoted with permission.

Sponsored by the David J. Sencer CDC Museum, Office of Communications and the CDC COVID-19 response. Additional support provided by the Consulate General of Canada to the U.S. Southeast.

Image credit: Richard Nielsen Charlotte Kent (editor of CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report), 2024

CURATOR TOURS

Join us on a Wednesday afternoon for an in-depth look at this exhibition.

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Participating Artists

Jamie Allen
(Canadian, living in Berlin)

Eilis Crean
(Irish, living in Carrollton, GA)

Sarah Peachey
(UK, living in London)

Jeremy Bolen
(U.S., living in Atlanta, GA)

Gareth Fuller
(UK, living in Beijing)

Barbara Schreiber
U.S. living in Charlotte, NC

Sheila Pree Bright
(U.S., living in Atlanta, GA)

Benjamin Jones
(U.S. living in Tybee Island, GA)

Eleri Ward
U.S. living in New York, NY)

Jericho Brown
(U.S., living in Atlanta, GA)

Robert Myles
(UK, living in Glasgow)

Caomin Xie
(Chinese, living in Atlanta, GA)

Jane Ellen Burke
(U.S., living in Taos, NM)

Richard Nielsen
(Canadian, living in Los Angeles, CA)