These new images essentially chronicle daily life for me since March, 2020 during New York State’s PAUSE, otherwise known as the Valve, also called the lockdown even though the Governor would say it’s not a Lockdown.

Around noon every day, New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo would hold a daily briefing from his Albany, NY headquarters or from a handful of different pertinent locations across the state. Sometimes he would speak from Rochester or from the Jacob Javits Convention Center, site of a temporary hospital that was being prepared for 1,000 covid-19 patients. There would be a dais, upon which he would be seated, flanked by his socially distant cabinet members.

Every day since mid-March, with great trepidation, I remained indoors and read voraciously. Non-fiction. Epidemiology. The science of virology and any graph and chart that I could get my hands on. It became my routine to help me stay focused, however paltry. Small things became monumental. Getting food, even peanut butter or oatmeal, became the focus of the day and the center of a feast. If there were spring bulbs blossoming in the yard, I brought them inside and made a centerpiece. I discovered that every day, I was essentially having Lunch with the Governor.

These two snarky offerings are for East End Arts, Riverhead, NY.