2021
Artist book
10.5″ x 7″ x 1.5″
Early in 2020, when it seemed that the entire world was in lockdown because of a new virus, I chanced upon a news article about how pandemic first responders reported dreams with common patterns. Doctors, nurses, and paramedics were connected not just by shared trauma, but by communal dreams as well.
Wondering if these patterns repeated in the general populace, I began collecting quotes from global news articles which chronicled reactions to the unique times we were sharing. While doing so, I began painting dreams that reflected our collective dreaming.
Pandemic Dreams is my exploration of how we have globally processed the stress of dealing with an invisible menace through our dreams. The front pages of my book explore how we regard masks as both protection and containment by using origami forms to cover parts of the faces. The waves in my paintings contain pleas for medical help in multiple languages. The back pages contain selections of quotes I’ve collected from news sources.
Mari Eckstein Gower, Redmond, Washington