Be Calm Be Kind Be Safe
(2020 – 2022)
Be Calm Be Kind Be Safe is a series of drawings on paper that explores the famous edict coined by British Columbia’s Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, who assuaged the global populace to be calm, to be kind, and to be safe in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
Through repetition and interpretation, the text of her words is used to question and create a visual narrative that both celebrates resilience and the humanity of local and global communities, while also recognizing the absurdity and obsessiveness of making art as a way to be calm, be kind, and be safe during a time of disease, infection and contagion.
The series features individual works that emphasize one or more aspects of Henry’s oft-quoted phrase, including the importance of remaining calm during times of crisis, the value of kindness and compassion with others, and the necessity of prioritizing safety and public health. This includes large, abstract watercolor paintings that use cool, soothing tones to represent the idea of staying calm, while also simultaneously referencing Christopher Wool’s Apocalypse Now.
Other works include detailed pen-and-ink drawings that represent pooled populations or data sets of people, either in isolation or in direct relation to each other, emphasizing the importance or implication of being kind and how individual actions impact our collective consciousness during a time of fear, paranoia, and disinformation. Whether in black and white or through the use of bright colors and bold typography, the interplay of text and images viewers to be safe and to take necessary precautions, not just to protect themselves, but others.
Whether it’s a replication of
The Blue Marble
photo of Earth taken by Apollo 17, or a depiction of the sun setting over an ocean, the works in Be Calm Be Kind Be Safe highlight the arc of the global impact of Covid-19 and its various variants, from the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, to the dawn of our ‘new normal’ at the end of 2022.
