Artist Carrie Mae Weems Is Planning an Ambitious Campaign to Alert the World About How the Coronavirus Has Hurt Communities of Color

by admin

May 28, 2020

artnet

Photographer, filmmaker, and
installation artist Carrie Mae Weems is launching a new initiative
to draw attention to how the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately
hurts African American, Latino, and Native American
communities.

Working with Syracuse
University, where she is an artist-in-residence, Weems will unveil
a series of billboards, flyers, buttons, and other public objects
that promote public health measures throughout the western New York
city over the next six months.

“We’ve all been impacted by
COVID-19,” Weems said in a statement. “It’s an ecological health
crisis of epic proposition—an international disaster. And yet we
have indisputable evidence that people of color have been
disproportionately impacted. The death toll in these communities is
staggering. This fact affords the nation an unprecedented
opportunity to address the impact of social and economic inequality
in real time. Denial does not solve a problem.”

The project, titled “Resist
COVID Take 6,” which alludes to recommendations that people stay
six feet apart from one another, was conceived by Weems
at the onset of the pandemic after a conversation with Pierre
Loving, who eventually drew up the proposal.

"background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:500px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);">

View this post on Instagram

RESIST COVID TAKE 6! A new project being rolled out
in response to COVID-19. Read about it at the link in the bio and
below: “Growing research shows black, Latino and members of Native
American communities are more likely to get sick from COVID-19 than
their white neighbors. This may be due in large part to a long
history of social inequality and economic inequity. Among the more
specific factors commonly cited: . Many African Americans and
Latino Americans work in health, service industry, manufacturing or
agricultural jobs that have been deemed essential (e.g., hospitals,
grocery stores, nursing homes, meat-packing plants, farms) and
require close contact with others who potentially may be carrying
COVID-19. . They are more likely to live in densely populated urban
centers, where it is more difficult to practice social distancing,
and they use public transportation, where the virus can spread more
easily. . Multi-generational households, which may be more common
among some racial and ethnic minority families, may find it
difficult to take precautions to protect older family members or
isolate those who are sick if space in the household is limited. .
Those with underlying health conditions—including cardiovascular
issues and diabetes—are especially susceptible to complications
from the coronavirus. And for those who are underinsured or have no
insurance, access to affordable health care to obtain treatment is
difficult. . Many Native Americans live in remote areas and lack
easy access to running water for frequent handwashing or nearby
medical services if they become sick.”

A post shared by Carrie Mae Weems (@carriemaeweems) on May 27,
2020 at 8:57am PDT

“I thought, ‘How can I use my
art and my voice as a way of underscoring what’s possible and bring
the general public into a conversation, into heightened awareness
of this problem to better the community in which I live?’” Weems
said.

Syracuse University, which
brought on Weems as its inaugural artist-in-residence in January,
will fund the production. The billboards will constitute the first
phase of the initiative. In a second phase, items such as buttons,
bags, and magnets will be distributed at churches, community
centers, food banks, and testing sites.

Weems’s messages be produced in
English, Spanish, and Onondaga, the language of the Onondaga
Nation, which occupies a territory south of Syracuse. Weems hopes
to expand the project outside of the Syracuse area
into other cities with
large minority populations soon.

“I’m not a policy-maker. I’m not
a politician. I’m a citizen concerned about what’s going on in my
community,” Weems said. “This coronavirus isn’t going away anytime
soon, and neither are the underlying issues affecting people of
color that it has made even more apparent.”

The post Artist Carrie Mae Weems Is Planning an Ambitious
Campaign to Alert the World About How the Coronavirus Has Hurt
Communities of Color appeared first on artnet News.