opportunities

In the wake of the current global pandemic, our landscapes have shifted with haunting subtlety. For many, domestic spaces have become a chaotic ground where caretaking, work, domestic labor, and relationships unfold simultaneously (albeit virtual). For others whose work has not been disrupted, once-familiar areas have taken on a nagging threat of contagion. Fear of contracting and spreading illness imbues even the most banal interactions with discomfort and distrust. Minute-by-minute news updates flood our consciousness as the progression of the virus oozes with monstrous, excruciating tenacity. Many face grief of lost companions, and together we face the collective grief of our altered, unstable, and unknown future. How are these vast shifts manifested in the material reality of shared space and surroundings? How are individuals responding to the crisis to prioritize community care, even in the midst of isolation? How are communities creating safe models and spaces for ethical gathering?

COVID Landscapes will be a risograph printed book documenting and disseminating experiences of isolation, work, and being in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID Landscapes seeks artwork and writing that considers the act of observation and art-making in the midst of this new reality as not only a mode of combating isolation and fear in the wake of illness and quarantine but also a method of nurturing a sense of belonging in body and place. Relevant themes and topics include domesticity and biography as political space, healthy solitude practices in the midst of global anxiety, the significance of physical touch and closeness, communal and or/virtual child care, distance learning, emergent community spaces, and instances of providing proactive support to at-risk populations including those who are incarcerated, individuals with disabilities, health workers, sanitation workers, the elderly, sex workers, food-service workers, and supply chain workers.

Artists may submit up to 5 images and written work of up to 2,000 words. Editing will begin soon and earlier submissions are encouraged. Click here to access the application form.

Submissions have closed. Stay tuned on the Sense of Press Instagram for production updates and inside scoops!

Sense of Press is an independent publishing initiative based in Baltimore, Maryland.

Questions: nicole@senseofpress.info