Solidarity & Stoicism Series 

Cleared For Public Release, 2022
Digital illustration collage, original print archival ink on paper

9in x 12in edition of 100
16in x 20in edition of 100

     In May of 2020, I started looking into the myriad of strange symptoms I had been struggling with daily since February. I came across a blog on recovering from Covid19, many of my symptoms were listed. The blog directed me to the linked Facebook group called Survivor Corps. I read through the posts and shared my experience. Shockingly, I wasn’t alone in my suffering, nor was I the only one who had endured the gaslighting from friends and family, disbelieving my struggles because I was never tested (At the time, there was no widespread, accessible testing, and I had Covid before it was “officially” deemed Covid and acknowledged as being in the US). I went into a deep internet dive and read countless medical and science journal publications on both the current SARS COV2 and publications from the 1st epidemic of SARS, as well as MERS. A nine year study on patients who had recovered from the 2003/2004 SARS outbreak was alarming. Cognitive disability, encephalitis, lung fibrosis, still not fully recovered after 9 years. I started noticing younger clients with broken capillaries spider webbed on their legs, but they lacked the lifestyle and medical diagnoses that would explain them. My hair started falling out by its roots in July 2020, I couldn’t climb up the stairs to the bedroom without getting winded. I was having trouble remembering what I was taking about, mid sentence. When I accidentally clipped my hand while cooking, the blood blistered just under my skin rather than bleeding through the open gash on my hand, on the other end of the gash, a thin line of blood had dried immediately in smells beads that were a dark brown red. Something was clotting my blood… my lymphatic system must be struggling, my skin was dry and flaking off, my vision was cloudy. When I started Contact Tracing on behalf of the Tennessee Department Of Health, I was finally able to see the larger picture of how prevalent these symptoms, coined “Long Haul Covid or Long Covid” really were. Four days a week, eight to twelve hours a day, I was propped up in my bed, a hospital style u shaped adjustable desk held my lap top, headset, ipad and notepad. Between calls, or while on calls, I was searching for answers, finding reputable resources for those who asked and sharing the survivor corps support page. Every month I read the newest updates from the Department Of Homeland Security Master Questions List for Covid19 Caused by SARS COV2. And wondered when I would recover fully. I recognized our post pandemic would include millions of people struggling to find relief from an invisible yet disabling, long term physical and mental health crisis, long after the acute viral infection.

Subject Matter - The foreground is a digitally illustrated self-portrait. My hair is long and colored blonde, as it was at the time I created this work. I’m wearing a spiked crown, apocalyptic spike goggles, a red face mask and a black frock.  In the government official blue toned background are document snippets from publications I read in 2020 and 2020. These snippets were pulled directly from the following; the DHS MQL-Sars-CoV2- Cleared For Public Release publication. A page titled “Intelligence Analysis Reference Guide” from a certification course I took on Intelligence Analysis in early 2020. A publication from The Iranian Journal of Virology 2019;13(2): 36-38 “Is SARS-CoV-2 a Product of Reverse Genetics Using Vaccinia Virus-Based Recombination?” And a pre-print of a publication titled “The early cryptic transmission and evolution of SARS-CoV-2 in human hosts” from Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, McGovern Medical School at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA. 

Details: 

• Unframed digital illustration print on thick matte poster paper.
• Allow 2-3 days for processing and 5-10 days for delivery
• Shipped in a flat mailer or rolled tube
• Artist signed Certificate Of Authenticity will be mailed separately, pending delivery confirmation
• All artworks are non-refundable, exchanges will be made in regards to damaged print quality, and shipping errors