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I have done many forms of art, from photography to ballet to painting to pastels, but my passion has always been collage. Being a Canadian healthcare worker living in America has been unnerving, from racism to human equity, to gun control, to obstinate refusal to vaccinate, the political divide, and everything in between.
In March 2020, I was experiencing what I would describe as crippling melancholy and anhedonia in regards to my art practice because of the COVID situation, especially how it was being handled and minded in the US. In the absence of collage, I began creating simple sketches of my daily life, from my first grader stuck at home...
...to people at the supermarket wearing clear deli tray lids as face shields during the severe PPE shortage.
In January and February 2020, my coworkers were sick with undiagnosed illnesses that lasted weeks on end, and one coworker's father was the second reported US COVID death at the time. Everyone but that father had been refused testing because they hadn't recently traveled from China. Work became chaotic and I never had the lockdown experience that many others had.
America is so, so insular, and I wanted to learn more about what life was like everywhere else during this time. I wanted to hear personal experiences from people I know. I paired their words with a snapshot of their life during lockdown that I then illustrated in timelapse.
I've shared stories from Jersey City, Kenya, Israel, Norway, Vietnam, Germany, the UK, Canada, Brazil, and the Netherlands. They talk about how COVID-19 has affected their country, their town, and their families. You will hear the emotion in their voices, their thoughtful pauses.
Thanks for taking the time to watch and listen at a time when a 30-second Instagram reel can struggle to keep our attention.
Jersey City, New Jersey
Cologne, Germany
Herzliya, Israel
Nairobi, Kenya
Amsterdam, Netherlands
São Paulo, Brazil
ABOUT CHERYL
Cheryl Chudyk is a practicing pharmacist with a background in wedding photography, ballet, jazz, and contemporary dance. She dabbles in poetry, painting, and comics, and she studies writing and collage under Dianne Aprile and Larry Calkins. Her work has been published in {th ink} Publication, Cults of Life, OLTRE, transitional MOMENTS, COOLAGE, and 4 issues of Cut Me Up Magazine, and she has exhibited her work in the US and Europe. She is a co-curator and co-founder of Sharp Hands Gallery and is always looking to make collaborative pieces with other artists.
Words and artwork by Cheryl Chudyk. Portraits by Hilary Northcraft.
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