Nearly 500,000 deaths.
That’s the global toll—so far—from COVID-19. And as anyone who knows a victim knows all too well, the devastation extends to mourners secluded in quarantine. With funerary and memorial customs disrupted by the pandemic, Korean artist and designer Hayoun Won has created the installation “Moments of Silence,” which is currently on virtual exhibition at Blank Space gallery in New York City.
The work includes a media projection and four printed pieces, and with it, “I hope that people can have time for a few minutes of silence to commemorate the incalculable victims across the world,” Won says.
The projection begins with an aerial assessment of the virus, which has so far affected 9.5 million people, before giving way to Won’s hand-drawn memorials.
“Formally, the work exists as an abstract, indefinite plane that extends beyond the frame, with each individual square unit representing a singular life,” gallery associate Euan Rugg says.
Moments of Silence: Condolences, 2020
Moments of Silence: Memories, 2020
Detail
The work is part of a larger show of Won’s output, dubbed “Commemorate & Imagine,” which also includes her abstract “Mr. and Mrs. Futures” series. The hand-drawn illustrations explore “how design can change the future and respond directly to moments of crisis.”
As Rugg says, “The piece ‘Futures’ is an abstraction of the phenomenon of the personal perspectives of lived experience, and Won is imagining the various possible futures as two people navigate a shared space.”
Futures, 2020
Future Dots, 2020
Abstract Machine, 2020
Designer Perspectives, 2020
Prediction, 2020
The show is on view through July 5, and a portion of all artwork sales is being donated to COVID-19 relief funds.