2020-11-20

Susan and David invited Kremena and I to take their photograph exactly 8 months ago, just a few days after public schools in the city of Lexington were closed out of “an abundance of caution.” This phrase was used frequently 8 months ago and we are being asked again to exercise the same caution but no longer need the request to be tempered with such an expression.
Susan and David prepared brilliantly for our visit. They planned this Laugh-In styled photograph while wearing the same outfits they wore on their wedding day. They treated us with a truly funny spoken word performance from their porch as well. We have not seen them since. This is true for nearly every person we have photographed as part of this artwork.
Of the 279 photographs we have captured documenting Lexington in the Time of COVID-19, sixty are included in the online exhibition hosted by Morlan Gallery,
There are just 10 days remaining for this virtual exhibition featuring the faces and voices of people who call Lexington home, our neighbors. It is great to see people, even as photographs, in this time of isolation.
We hope you will feel the same way, that you will visit the exhibition before it is over.

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.