In March of 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic and its effects first started to hit the United States, the once distant virus that felt alive only through global news and social media, made its presence known in my life. As my daily life continued to change, I have continued to document what I see and create images that illustrate the way I feel.
In this series are documentary photographs of my experience, journal entries I wrote over time that share my thoughts, along with film illustrations of the people who have stayed closest to me double exposed with scenes of our lives that bring us together.
Although the pandemic has been a source of fear and change for most — including my family and I, this project displays the love, beauty, and hope we are still grateful to share.
My friends and family enjoy the warm spring night after a backyard picnic to celebrate the end of my freshman year of college on Saturday, May 2. Laine, on the far left, and Macy, my brother Sam’s fiance, on the far right, are the only people who have regularly been coming to our house since COVID-19.
The morning light shines through my bedroom window and onto my bed as I work through fall classes in September. Since March, my childhood bedroom has returned to my life as I spend more and more time alone, working only virtually with others. Above my head is my bedroom wall, which I view as a frame for my thoughts, creations, and inspirations to hang freely.
Barbara Timmerman, my grandmother, smiles as my dad and I talk to her over the phone during a visit to her assisted living home in Milford, Ohio, in October. My grandmother has trouble with her memory and hasn’t been able to leave the assisted living home since March when the coronavirus pandemic began, and since cases are on the rise, we can only see her through the window when we visit.