Allan Willouby by Lou Bopp.
LOCAL ARTISTS GET CREATIVE DURING PANDEMIC Written by Rob Levy
Although the Coronavirus has stalled many forms of industry, it has spurred a creative energy among our city’s artists. They have kept going - producing dynamic new work that uplifts our communities while simultaneously documenting this time. A commercial photographer by trade, Lou Bopp is best known for his ability to capture authentic images of ordinary folks living and breathing in the moment. These images offer glimpses of our world that profoundly resonate amidst changing times. Having traveled the world for decades and documenting the lives of people with realistic vibrancy, Bopp was intrigued with the idea of exploring a city that came to a grinding halt. Inspired to capture the stark reality of quarantine, he snapped more than 100 pictures of its sequestered citizens for a project dubbed, “Portraits from Mandated Isolation.” His process evolved through a rigid daily regimen that included posting a new picture each day for nearly two months. Operating mostly on impulse, Bopp contacted his subjects in advance to set up the shoot but gave them little direction to avoid any dressing up or cleaning windows. Because none of his subjects were posed or positioned, Bopp was able to maintain an absence of physical contact and create natural looking pictures. Bopp addressed how the pandemic stimulated him creatively. “I had quite a few commercial jobs that were postponed or canceled but in March I made a decision to do some things on my own to 24 slmag.net
stay busy, to keep my sanity and for therapy. But most importantly, I wanted to document what was happening because I thought it was critical that this moment is documented. However, I didn’t want to be on the frontline or in the trenches. My history is in photojournalism but I really felt like that wasn’t my place for this. I didn’t want to clog up the system. I wanted to stay out of hospitals and ambulances and instead document the isolation. Then as things started to ease up a little bit, I started to shoot these kinds of emergence photos of people gently coming outside and opening doors and windows and going out and wearing masks.” He elaborated, “It was the perfect project for me because I started it organically and I worked alone. Then it began to take off as I started to get some press. The Missouri Historical Society wanted images for their permanent collection and I was profiled on CBS Sunday Morning. This all happened within four months, so it was like all the stars lined up for a perfect project.” A self-described ex-hippie, Michael Eastman is a worldrenowned photographer whose work has been collected by many prominent museums. When COVID-19 struck in March, Eastman responded with a flourish of creativity. When asked how making art during the pandemic affected him, Eastman answered, “It saved my sanity; doing nothing is not an option for me. My work has been the only thing that has helped me in terms of doing something that was normal and worthy of effort. It kept me engaged.”
