Ann Arbor – Analog Artist Digital World

Public responses to widespread disease have remained mostly unchanged since the Black Death, in the 14th century. Over 3000 COVID related deaths a week in America has become the new normal. Blindly accepting so much death is as American as Sunday football. Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan has a seating capacity of 107,601. What better place for a maskless orgy of denial and disease? If I had any desire to see a Michigan football game I would be perfectly happy to watch on TV.

When people observe others taking risks despite the pandemic they assume those risks are acceptable. Unfortunately from the start of the pandemic, leaders have not been honest and transparent. Contradictory messages are the norm.

Human beings are inherently social, not solitary, creatures. Making that a reality can be accomplished while masking and having some physical distance. Physical distancing is different than social distancing. The human need for connection with other people is probably what fuels a lot of disease transmission. Most people however have abandoned all protective measures. They actively seek to infect others as they ignore reality and go about life like it was 1999.

Social distancing does not have to equal social isolation. Those are two very different concepts and virtual interaction can make a big difference.

I keep trying to find a way to illustrate the toll that Covid-19 has taken here in America. As of this writing, June 1, 2020, according to World O Meter, 106,878 people have died in the United States from the virus. I decided to find out which football stadium has the highest seating capacity and found that Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, can seat 107,420 people. By the time this painting posts, that seating capacity may have been surpassed, or soon will be surpassed, by the number of people who have died from Covid-19. I then started thinking about how the protests across the country are playing out in real time on social media platforms. It is as if Twitter and Facebook have become the modern day equivalents of the Roman Colosseum. What if the dead are watching the violence unfold from their stadium seating?

Many are watching events unfold from the safety of their home isolation while others are being shot at by police with rubber bullets and tear gas. President Trump was hidden away in a White House basement bunker as protests in Washington D.C. resulted in fires burning all around the White House. The nation wide protests will certainly result in a spike in Covid-19 infections.

Police are also shooting at, macing, and arresting reporters who the president dubs “the enemy of the people.” A young African American couple are tazered and dragged out of their car on live TV. A family watched as police marched past their home and then police shouted “Light Um Up” and they shot rubber bullets at the family when they did not get back inside fast enough. It is a dystopian nightmare. Police violence has erupted nationwide. At least two have been killed in the Nation wide protests. a 21 year old journalist had his eye ruptured by a tear gas canister in Indiana

Meanwhile 106,878 ghosts watch from their stadium seating as police cars burn. Close up and violent details can be seen on the jumbo tron and in every social media post. Racism has existed for hundreds of years but today the injustice is captured by cell phones which everyone has in hand.

An independent autopsy found that George Floyd‘s death was a homicide. He died of “asphyxiation from sustained pressure. ” That that is plain to see if you watch the cell phone footage of officer Derek Chauvin as he keeled on Floyd’s neck as Floyd begged him saying, “I can’t breath.” The officer had his knee on Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds in total and two minutes and 53 seconds after Floyd was unresponsive. Dr. Michael Baden said, “Police have this false impression that if you can talk, you can breathe. That’s not true,” Baden said. George died because he needed a breath. He needed a breath of air.