In the Year of the Virus
A comic book. The cover is a pale pink color, titled "the year of the virus" in capitalized black letters on a lighter pink background. The illustration depicts a birds eye view of a messy bedroom with a computer desk, office chair, trash can, and nightstand to the right. To the left, a person with short black hair, fair skin, and a blue shirt sleeps in a red bed with their mouth opened and fists curled up next to them. Strewn across the floor and bed are different items of clothing and a backpack. Barred windows are at the top of the page and a cabinet is at the bottom. The words "poems by Felix Chung" in capitalized black letters on light pink background are in the bottom left corner and "artwork by EKO" are in the same fashion in the bottom right corner. The comic and poetry details the Corona virus and its spread from the perspective of people, healthcare workers, and victims. It touches on the loneliness felt both in quarantine and in the hospital, as well as a disconnect between victims and their loved ones. There is a page with three panels. The first panel is a large rectangle with a black background. The white outline of a COVID cell sits in the center, thin lines fan out around it. Above the cell are the words "ignore me and you are" capitalized and in white and beneath the cell are the words "six feet underground" capitalized and in white. The black background breaks up towards the bottom of the rectangle, revealing an orange room with six people dancing, black music notes floating around them. The second panel is a thin black rectangle, a splotch of orange outlined in white sits in the center. The third panel is a black rectangle. A large, orange COVID cell with black eyes fills the scene, in the center of the cell is a globe of the world with the countries colored in orange. Another page depicts a large, green hospital room. Towards the top of the page, an older person sits upwards in a light green hospital bed, before a window. They have tan skin, sparse black hair, and are wearing a blue hospital gown. A green tube wraps around the middle of the person's face, going into their nose and draping down the other side of the bed. Their mouth is opened, talking to another person with long gray hair on a tablet screen. The light from the window casts a shadow of the scene onto the pale green floor. Beneath the shadow are the words "till death do us part" in green capital letters; "till death" in the first line, "do us" underneath, and "part" in the largest font.
Read
- In Collections
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Creativity in the Time of COVID-19
- Copyright Status
- In Copyright
- Date
- 2019/2022
- Contributors
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Cheong, Felix
Cheong, Eko
- Subjects
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COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020- , in art
- Material Type
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Drawings (visual works)
Mixed media works
- Language
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English
- Pages
- 27 pages
- Genre Note
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Digital comic printed on paper
- Exhibit Label
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I've always wanted to illustrate poems, and Felix got me interested in the poem "In the Year of the Virus." I used an iPad to illustrate the entire comic. In creating this work, I was reflecting on specific aspects or moments of the pandemic. I can relate to the protagonist in '"In the Year of the Virus," as the anxiety and helplessness he felt hit close to home. In a way, I was venting part of my own frustration with the pandemic while drawing those panels. This is a series of comics that portrays different people experiencing the pandemic. Each comic captures a unique moment in the pandemic, from the initial panic and anxiety to the gradual acceptance of a new normal. It is an innovative blend of poetry by Felix Cheong and graphical art by Eko, brought together by Jia He Yi. --Label design by exhibit curator Nancy DeJoy. Labels written by Ben Lash and his team in consultation with artist statements.