Pandemic Accordion Book

A limited edition of 20, this artist's book about the first weeks of lockdown, when we felt afloat, unsure, depressed, etc. It is a visual representation of that time…

Each book has an original cover, a high quality print of the original artwork, and a poem that I wrote in April 2020 attached to the reverse side of the accordion.

This book is now in the Rare Book Collection of the University of Virginia. 

There is No "Right" Way to React to a Pandemic 

There is no "right" way to react to a pandemic

There is only this day

And this moment's reaction

No "right" way to ART

No "should", no "shouldn't"

 

We are all at sea

Floating, falling

Spinning in place

At the edges of the life we once knew

Grasping at the familiar

 

Our homes are cages of isolation 

 

Some days continue the work of the before

Busy, busy

Doing

As if nothing is changed

In denial of the current reality

 

Other days it is impossible to escape

Into the paint and color 

Judged by a former version of self

 

A self on hold 

Perhaps never to return

 

The real work is to be okay with the one

that shows up each day

To remind

To remember

There is no "right" way to react in a pandemic

 

_______________________________

by Anne Bedrick on April 10, 2020