Reaching Out I and Reaching Out II are two life-sized self-portraits that depict different forms of “reaching out” during physical isolation during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In Reaching Out I, I physically reach out to my cat Keith, one of the three members of my earliest quarantine-bubble (the others being myself and my roommate). A lot of early lockdown moments were spent reaching for him, poking him awake from a nap, ignoring responsibilities to get a little serotonin boost from watching him just walk around. After seeing Will Barnet’s The Reader in ArtsWorcester’s call and response collaboration with the Fitchburg Art Museum, I opted to embroider one of these peaceful moments from my own life.

Reaching Out II depicts a later moment during physical isolation. Waiting by my computer for the next virtual meeting, the novelty of everything happening on a screen has worn off. In this moment, I continue to reach out virtually, but only after having been teased by brief respites of limited in-person hangouts and events in-between virus waves. My stance is all too familiar, and could just as easily double as waiting around for a vaccine appointment or tracking the latest of many online orders.

My original goal with the Material Needs Grant was not to create self-portraits. In fact, when I applied for the grant, I had little experience with self-portraiture. When I was ready to start my work however, Covid-19 had spread to the US and Massachusetts entered its lockdown and I lost access to my intended subjects. Following in the tradition of artists like Edvard Munch, who painted self-portraits during the 1918 flu, I was forced to use myself as a reference, discovering a new resource in the process.