Keith M. Francis
MFA ’18 Fine Arts Low-Residency
This artwork was created during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
The U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services declared the SARS-CoV-2 virus a public health emergency, and the White House 2019 Novel Coronavirus Task Force announced the implementation of new travel policies to be effective on February 2, 2020. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic
Isolation and shutdowns were experiences we all shared, and I believed they would leave us all changed. However, what was concerning was the lack of discussion about our emotional well-being. It felt as if we had collectively decided to move on without acknowledging the trauma we had endured. The National Institutes of Health has reported a significant increase in “rates of anxiety, depression, and substance use disorder since the beginning of the pandemic.”
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Keith M. Francis, an internationally acclaimed multidisciplinary artist, received his B.A. from the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth and his M.F.A. from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. His work is held in museum collections worldwide and was recently featured in the “American Beauty” exhibition in Padua, Italy, alongside pieces by artists such as Andy Warhol, Banksy, Annie Leibovitz, Shepard Fairey, and many others.
