With my zine I was exploring concepts related to COVID-19. I wanted to put some of the ideas and emotions I was feeling into a visual piece. I used old copies of National Geographic magazine circa 1960-1978 to create the collage style of the zine. These magazines, and the advertisements in them in particular, are some of my favorite pieces to use when I make collage art because I find it so interesting that fifty to sixty years in the future some concepts and ideas in marketing have not changed. This unusual consistency is why parallels to modern day can easily be made through these prints.
Title Page – I titled the zine “New Guide to The World” because I feel like so many of us are redefining how we navigate the world everyday – the science around this virus and how we should be responding to it is evolving everyday. So in a way we are reading a new guide to how to approach the world daily, which can be so exhausting. I paired this with an image of a scientist in a laboratory to represent importance of medicine and research in how we conduct ourselves.
Page 1/2 – The first two pages are a little questionnaire I found meant to test one’s “relaxability”. I found this very relevant because I think with this virus and all the stressors that come with it such as sheltering in place, working/attending school from home, financial problems, conflicting opinions with family and friends, and more we can hardly call ourselves relaxed in any sense of the word. Perhaps we can even mark every single one of the boxes listed! For many of us the question is not “How relaxed am I” rather “How stressed am I?”. The line at the end stating that being more relaxed will make one “more pleasant to live with” was quite humorous to me as well.
Page 3 – This page was meant to explore the loneliness that comes with social distancing and sheltering in place. I found that the singular telephone in the midst of black emptiness embodied that concept well. The telephone is meant to represent the many different ways we are still able to connect with each other such as video calls, texting, online gaming, etc. The text at the bottom reads “connection?”, with the question mark because despite all these options, that connection may still feel empty. There is something innately human to be around other people and able to hug them, enjoy a meal with them, dance with them… Though technology is great it has not advanced to the point of replacing these joys.
Page 4 – For the fourth page I wanted to illustrate an activity that we are no longer able to do. In the image a man has pulled up in his car to talk with a group of friends who are enjoying a meal at a restaurants outdoor patio. The text reads “ordinary …until you miss it!”. Now that something that used to seem so ordinary, like eating out with a group of friends, is no longer an option I’ve found myself thinking that I did not appreciate these types of simple pleasures in life near enough.
Page 5/6 – With these two pages I wanted to turn attention towards how the United States government is handling this situation. On page 5 I paired an image of the White House with text that reads “look at the state everything’s in…” to illustrate how dire this situation is for so many in the country. So many people have lost their jobs and worse yet, many more fear for their lives. Horror stories of front line workers forced to fulfill their duties without enough personal protective equipment. And a sad lack of testing that indicates that these problems are far from over. Page 6 is an argument that states that we need a revolution for the health, comfort, and protection of our people. In particular, we need a healthcare system where an individual’s access to care does not entirely depend on their employer. With tens of millions of Americans out of work, during (and because of) a pandemic, how will they get the care they need should they contract the virus? On top of all the other struggles they are facing during this time, will they also be bankrupted for seeking necessary medical care? These pages urge the reader to think critically about the systems in place and if they are truly working to serve the people.
Page 7 – The final page is a photograph of an actress performing for a large audience at a theater. The actress is folded over in what looks like agony or sadness – feelings that many people in the word can relate to right now. The text on this page reads “Bygone Days”, for the days in which we can gather in such large groups, to commiserate or celebrate, is a thing of the past for now.
If I were to do this project again I would definitely mix in some original drawings to break up the heavy text and photography. It would have been very interesting to mix media like that, and also would have allowed for more flexibility in the ideas and visuals presented.
In future zines I would want to explore aspects of my own identity. That was actually the subject I set out to cover in my zine but I found myself pulled in this direction. Right now I needed to use art to work through the difficult emotions surrounding this virus and its associated issues.
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