Antigua, Guatemala 2021

I was living in Beijing China during the pandemic and decided it would be a good idea to leave before any major restrictions had been set in place. I ended up traveling to Guatemala on April 25, 2021. At that time, wearing masks in public was still a policy for residents but seemed like it…

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2.0.1.9. The Year No One Expected

The piece, which I created in 2021, looks back at a global event that changed everything in so many ways. Although we saw loss, chaos, damage and resilience, there is an increased sense of empathy and community. We all learned to put our best foot forward, regardless of what we faced personally; everyone is connected…

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Empty Bazaar

In December 2021, I went to the Tehran Grand Bazaar and found it very quiet and empty. Two sellers were playing chess during their break/rest time. The atmosphere and their gestures and behavior were very interesting to me. I sketched the scene on my iPad, then added the coloration when I returned home.    …

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Isolation: Waiting to Exhale

Alone, numb and terrified by the devastation that an invisible virus can bring, hope found it hard to flourish, but loneliness knew in its heart that this pandemic of isolation would be washed away by warm hugs and kind prayers and the resilience to thrive. I had planned to visit India—where I grew up (I…

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Can You Handle the Heat?

(A Looking Back post: image taken November 2021) This photograph was taken during the transition period when the UK started to lift COVID restrictions and life began returning to the heart of London. My goal was to show everyday Londoners whose stories are often forgotten. Every day, thousands of people walk through Chinatown and hundreds…

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A Turkish Hospital: Pandemic Photos

When the pandemic struck, I had the chance to photograph the treatment processes of COVID-19 patients who came to the hospital where I work in Turkey. Since I’m a serious photographer, the pandemic presented a rare opportunity to combine my professional interests with my passion for photographic arts.  In this series, I captured some of…

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Evening Out 2021

I was inspired to paint “Evening Out 2021” after finally going out to dinner for the first time in nearly two years. The date was December 16, 2021, and the place was  Casa Loma Toronto—one of my favorites. I’m looking forward to the day when scenes like the one in my painting will become something for…

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New Year’s Eve 2021

This is not what I expected to be posting on New Year’s Eve 2021. In fact, I couldn’t imagine that I’d be posting anything new on The Pandemic Lens on the last day of 2021.       My plan was to stop publishing any new materials once life resumed to normal as we all…

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Falling And Failing In Our Dystopian Era

Stills reeling with the confluence of crises and global polarization and today it came out sounding like … this: Stanley SagovStanley Sagov leads an intense dual life as a physician (Family Practice Group, The Sagov Center for Family Medicine) and jazz pianist/composer. He is the leader of Remembering The Future Jazz Band, a bunch of…

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A False Start to a New Beginning

New Beginnings is a work I painted last December, just as news of vaccine approvals was making headlines. It depicts that celestial moment when daybreak begins but the night sky is still above us. For me, it felt like the dawn of a new time for the world. The dark specter of the pandemic still…

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