New York City is one of the global cities most impacted by COVID-19. To date we have lost over 28,000 New Yorkers to the pandemic. Our pilot project is a light installation that offers a visual interpretation of the virus’s effect on the city and serves to examine and expose the ways in which specific communities were hardest hit.Using a series of light sequences with intermittent moments of darkness, the installation gives the viewer a visual representation of the communities most impacted by Covid-19 in terms of infection and death rates, and then juxtapose this information with racial and economic demographics for those same areas. Specific communities were hit harder than others, suggesting and exposing underlying socio-structural issues. Viewers are left with a dynamic, potent and lasting image of the pandemics impacts on specific neighborhoods. The illuminations are meant to drive awareness and force the viewer to question the underlying structures that are causing such vivid disparities within our city?
This is also a way of making data more accessible to those it discusses and impacts. The installation Illuminates correlation, highlighting potential justice issues as an impetus to focus on their resolution. It’s an invitation to engage in conversations, it is a tool of memorialization and public reification of specific communities and individuals experiences and it is a data access and translation point for those affected.
By using the contrast of darkness (night) and light we aim to ILLUMINATE the intense effect the virus has on New York. To merge our individual experiences and raise a more nuanced understanding of the virus’ total impact on the people of New York City. To encourage dialog and action to address the issues at the heart of the health and social disparities in our city.
