Plague Box

From the Artist: At first, the Covid quarantine made me feel anxious and trapped, like I was in a box. Trapped at home, things were delivered to me, in boxes. These cardboard boxes were cheap, basic ephemera that were designed, even destined to be tossed. There was something about the impermanence of these boxes that reflected the uncertainty of Covid. It became an act of defiance to transform these cardboard boxes into something with meaning, value, and extended lifespan. Quarantine ultimately gave me the gift of time. Time not spent commuting, time not spent away from home and family, time to create.

One of the ways I kept busy and socially distanced, was going to yard sales. At one, I found a paperback copy of The Plague by Albert Camus. The story eerily mirrors the way Covid has unfolded in our lives. Not willing to let such an opportunity go by, I created the Plague Box.

My next quarantine box was Air Mail (unfinished). The stamps refer to all the people and countries in the world affected by Covid. Inside are snatches from a 9-person text conversation that has been going on since January, 2020. As many people discover, myself included, these text conversations are a lifeline.

The third quarantine box, Another Game Night, is a tribute to the hundreds of hours spent playing board games. The classic Scrabble stands in for all the ways we have kept our sanity, our sense of humor, and ties to friends and family.