2020-03-23

Today Lexington lost our first resident to COVID-19. In her memory, green lights illuminated public parking garage buildings, front porches, and small decorative lakes. Today all local universities moved to online instruction. The relief from the return to routine class schedules mingled with the uncertainty of new ways of teaching and learning. Today Governor Beshear ordered all non-essential retail businesses in Kentucky to close by 9 pm. This did not include grocery stores or laundromats. Today, like yesterday and the day before, Lexingtonians found comfort in each other. And in our furry friends. Today, like every day for the past week, Kurt and I kept taking pictures.

Lexington in the Time of COVID-19 is an artwork about people practicing social distancing at a time of a deadly virus. And also offering kindness.

Kurt Gohde and Kremena Todorova capture photographs at the periphery of American culture, where drag queens, discarded couches, and abandoned motel signs exist.