COVID-19
Making artwork in the midst of a national disaster can be a coping mechanism, a way of adding to the historical record, an opportunity to reflect amid chaos. For the Foreseeable Future (part 1), an eleven-minute video by Kayla Anderson, exhibits characteristics of all three, maybe more. Anderson lives in Chicago, and the city’s lakefront, mayor and orange alerts play major roles in the artist's rumination on local life during the first few months of the coronavirus pandemic. Those elements made it into the nightly news as well, but where Anderson diverges most meaningfully is in the development of an unusual extended metaphor: colored glassware rolls across the screen only to vanish in an instant, replaced by corresponding bits of beach glass, carefully gathered up by a human hand. A voice-over tells a story of being tossed and turned in the ocean but ultimately not drowning, which right now remains our great hope, while we continue to take our daily walks along the shoreline. Stay tuned for part 2.
—Lori Waxman 2021-01-15 11:37 AM