Title: The Count

(Work in Progress – Covid Death Count Veil)

Year: 2022 – continuing (Begun in March of 2020)

Dimensions: Veil = 71 inches T x 120 inches W x 310 inches D/L (Approximate Measurements)

Pedestal is 40 inches diameter x 17 inches T

Mixed Media

Notes:

I have over one million stitches of Crocheted, Enamel Coated Magnet Wire (Trifilar and Bifilar {3 wires and 2 wires twisted into a single strand}). My count is now dependent upon esthetics. Once I hit the million stitches point, my plan was to stop…for mental and physical health reasons. I chose a ‘million’ to represent the vastness of the numbers. I will not attempt to actually keep up with the global count. I chose the different colored wires and the trifilar and bifilar twisted wires to represent a mixed global community. As shown in the photo, the veil hangs over the face on the far side and is folded back over itself. I have crocheted in four (4) sections. In Asian cultures the sound for the word/number 4 is the same sound as for the word death. I have averaged 1,000 stitches a day for 2 and a half years. I usually start at 5:30-6:AM, and crochet for 3 to 4 hours. There have been days where I crocheted for 13 hours straight (Jan. 6… Insurrection Day being one of them). When my hands have been too sore, I have taken days off. I make up for them after I have had a break. I come back and work for longer to make up the time. I wanted a large pedestal but needed it to be easily moveable. I have made a pedestal from a fire pit ring, corrugated tin, and reinforced wood rounds.

Still to be done/made:

• A wreath of flowers made from metal mesh, wire, and my hair that I have collected for years. Wreath to be placed on the ‘head’.

• More flowers made to be placed on the veil (where I have indicated with knitting/crocheting markers) for when/where any friends passed during this time. Not all died from Covid.

• Birds flying around making the wreath. I just flashed on Disney’s Cinderella – HELP! There is a darker meaning to the birds.

• After having tried 4 different ways of supporting the veil, I am now reconciled to the fact that I will have to have something fabricated. The support is to be transparent, hint at a figure but be amorphous. The photo shows the veil supported on plexiglass sneeze guards, acrylic boxes and a vintage acrylic salad bowl (turned upside-down), all stacked on top of each other. This is very rickety and just for the photo (or if I setup for a studio visit). I need something more stable. Fabricators here I come. I photoshopped out the edges of the sneeze guards for this photo.