Bigger Than the Pandemic

Item

Title

Bigger Than the Pandemic

Description

The source I decided to create is a painting, two in fact. I have never been the greatest at drawing, but I love to paint. I always only choose simple ideas with minimal details which you can see from my two paintings. In a piece of art, it is a way to symbolize an idea, event, person, and many other things. This is what I wanted my paintings to look like. I wanted them to represent the pandemic and other events that went on during covid.
A primary source is an authentic, firsthand evidence of an event or the time period. Whether it be a document, video, painting, or speech it all connects to the event at that time. My paintings are considered primary sources because we are in a current pandemic and my pieces are evidence to prove or connect to what is happening now in our world.
My first piece has two sides to it. The left side is showing a medical member, it can be a nurse, doctor, or any other medical profession in your eyes. This person is seen as a hero as the light shines through the clouds onto them. I wanted this to represent our fellow front-line workers who are putting their life at risks to help others. I also know that there are several other front-line workers in other fields but choose a medical member to represent as a healer of this pandemic. On the other side of this, I also wanted to show the losses that we face because of this virus. I decided to make it dark and have the virus represent a darkened sun that does not shine on the casket of a lost person and their family. I just wanted this piece to overall show that yes, the frontline workers are saviors, but this virus have caused over millions of lives and continues to effect populations throughout the world.
Even though the two painting are separated, they go together. The bigger one shows protesters. It shows “Black Lives Matter”, “Stop Asian Hate”, and “we stand together” signs. It also shows a replica of George Floyd memorial. I wanted these two paintings to symbolize that even though there was a life changing pandemic, what was bigger was the racial discriminations in the US. Even though covid-19 was the biggest event in 2020-2021, what I see that was more devastating was BLM, Asian hate, overall discrimination. As I am Asian raced, this was more important and impactful than the virus for me. I used my fingerprint to represent the heads of the protesters, to show that even through the color we are all human. I even added mixed prints throughout the painting to also show that humans are also not only one race or ethnicity, and we stand together. I was inspired by other art that I have seen but adding the fingerprints was a powerful piece in showing that we are all human and deserve to be treated like human.
Through my paintings I want people to understand that during the pandemic of covid-19, there were also racial discriminations, counting deaths that were not caused by the virus, and an outrage of history. People will not forget that covid-19 took place during these 2 years but eventually, George Floyd will be forgotten by the world. Other black lives that were taken during this pandemic will be forgotten or thrown into the shadow of this virus. Eventually, those Asian elders who were beaten to death will be forgotten. I want my source to live on and to remind the world that there were also other devastating events happening in the arms of this pandemic.

Coverage

Holmen, Wis. 54636

Date

May 4, 2021

Creator

Pada Yang

Contributor

Pada Yang

Subject

Education

This item was submitted on May 5, 2021 by [anonymous user] using the form “Contribute an object” on the site “Western Wisconsin COVID-19 Archive Project”: http://lib02.uwec.edu/Omeka/s/C19

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