Capturing the Quarantine

The featured images are from Morgan McDonald’s project, Until Further Notice.

Springtime is normally welcomed with patio brunches, baseball games and endless community events. This year, springtime was practically silent.

Even in the darkest days of the quarantine, there was a story itching to be told. Morgan McDonald, Pickerington High School North alumna and current art education and art history student at The Ohio State University, felt she had to tell it. It resulted in a project titled Until Further Notice.

The black-and-white photographic series features community businesses with empty parking lots, residents wearing masks and gloves, and people maintaining six-foot distances from one another.

“Artists throughout time have drawn inspiration from major historical events like these, and as a visual artist myself, I just knew I couldn’t let this opportunity to capture the small moments in our community slip away,” McDonald says.

Even though McDonald says the series is open to interpretation, she hopes that when locals view the images, they feel a sense of community and a collective sense of shared experiences and impact.

“My hope is that community members realize their individual worth,” she says. “There is power in the individual experience, and that is why there is importance in leaving things up for interpretation. No two stories in this time are the same.”

The series isn’t just visually impactful, it’s also a historical documentation of the pandemic. McDonald cites the common journalistic phrase that what isn’t captured is invisible.

“I didn’t want our community’s experiences to be invisible,” she says. “We are important, and the people of Pickerington and Violet Township are worth being remembered.”

Morgan McDonald has lived in the Pickerington area for 15 years. While attending Pickerington High School North, she enrolled in an art program that redefined her skills and strengthened her artistic abilities. The program instructor, Angela Kalb, inspired McDonald to pursue visual art and art education. Of course, every journey comes with a challenge. Now a student at The Ohio State University studying art education and art history, McDonald had a moment of doubt regarding her future. After personal contemplation and seeking spiritual guidance, McDonald awoke to a new day, took a walk and discovered a box full of abandoned art supplies. She took it as a sign and happily continued her degree. Now entering her third year at OSU, McDonald recently completed an internship at Studios on High, an art gallery in the Short North, and her month-long documentary photography project, Until Further Notice. To view more of McDonald’s work, visit her Instagram @MorganMcDonaldArt.

Lydia Freudenberg is an editor. Feedback welcome at feedback@ cityscenemediagroup.com.

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