Blog: No Ordinary Days
March 26, 2020 - Joy Reed Belt
Frequently when I am in a conversation, reading a book, or watching television, an image of a familiar artwork apropos of the topic comes to my mind. In the initial days of the Coronavirus outbreak, I kept seeing a composite image that is on the cover of Maggie Taylor’s surrealistic painterly photography book, “No Ordinary Days.”
Taylor, a University of Florida Professor, who uses found objects, Adobe’s photoshop, a flatbed scanner and an Iris Printer as her creative tools, does not like to talk about the meaning of her photographs. She says she does not put a lot of conscious messaging in her work. However, she is aware that viewers often find layers of meaning in her photographs as I did. In my mind, the cover of “Days” captured the initial moment of the outbreak.
Today’s devastating news of the worldwide spread of the Coronavirus is inescapable. It can be found in literary and popular magazines, cable news channels, and in every newspaper in every continent. The disease we initially hoped and believed to be a distant manageable threat to our country has become the most insidious and intimate financial and health crisis of this century.
Last night after watching a disturbing newscast, in my mind’s eye I saw “The Night Watch,” painted by Rembrandt.in 1642. “Night Watch” is a symbolic group portrait of a company of civic guardsmen. The primary purpose of these guardsmen was to protect their cities by guarding the gates putting out fires and maintaining order. As an art historian observes, “Night Watch” stands out significantly in terms of its originality. Rather than the typical arrangement of boring rows of figures, Rembrandt animates his portraits.”
Another image, somewhat more accessible, for our time is this viral animation illustrating the importance of social distancing in stopping the spread of coronavirus by a husband a wife team of artists, Juan Delcan and Valentina Izaguirre. A sign in the Prayer Chapel of my church suggesting that we wash our hands for as long a period of time as it takes to say the Lord’s Prayer, “Twice” is also an image I will not soon forget.
The Paseo’s resident philosopher, Charles Martin, who is also a writer, publisher and owner of Literati Bookstore in The Plunge, recently sent me this text: “Now is the time to have faith in science, ingenuity, and the resilience of the human spirit.” I would add to that “and, to say the Lord’s Prayer…twice.”
Image: Maggie Taylor, “No Ordinary Days,” Jerry N. Uelsmann, Inc., 2013.
Image: Rembrandt, Officers and Men of the Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq and Lieutenant Wilhelm van Ruytenburgh, known as the Night Watch, 1642, Oil on Canvas, 149.4 x 178.6 in. (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Image: Animation illustrating the importance of social distancing, Photo courtesy of Juan Delcan and Valentina Izaguirre.
Image: Michelangelo, “Creation of Adam,” 1512, 9 ft. 2 in. x 18 ft. 8 in. (The Sistine Chapel)
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