SOCIAL SEPARATION
This painting was completed on May 2, 2020. Years from now you may have to check your history references to find the significance of that particular point in time. When you do, it’ll help explain that strange title of this piece.
You see, I found this painting while walking Bonniebrook Beach here on the Sunshine Coast on April 17th. It was a time of a worldwide pandemic. Called Covid-19, this aggressive virus was killing hundreds of thousands of people around the world, and it certainly was going to go into the millions before it was all done. It was an unusual time for all of us, all of us in the world I mean. It was a time of no physical human contact other than the person(s) you lived with. It was a time of wearing facemasks and standing far apart, and there was no true end in sight. It was a time of the unknown, the unfamiliar, uncertainty and mental stress. It was a time of general uneasiness.
It was also a time of sharing and caring. It was a time of introspection and self-reflection. It was a time of slowing one’s heart rate and one’s very pace of life. And that’s why I was walking the beach at Bonniebrook alone.
That’s when I saw the woman and her dog on the paddle board, and the sun’s angle was just right. She was close enough to shore for a good shot so I ran from the road down the slippery rocks to the oceanside. I took several quick shots, but I knew I didn’t have it. She just kept paddling, ignoring the old man on the beach following her along the shore. I ran along as quickly as I could ahead of her and stopped to take several more pictures. Still not right. I knew what I wanted but couldn’t get far enough ahead of her. I ran again, careful not to slip on the slippery rocks and seaweed. This time I got there. The sun’s reflection on the water would be just right. As she paddled by, I took another, singular shot, and I knew I had it.
In this year of the plague, activities that allow you to be alone with yourself have to be what one does. This painting, that I knew was there, really does speak to the realities of the time. She was doing what she could to take care of herself. This young woman on the paddle board was finding her peace with her dog and the ocean. And she was doing it while she was exercising the rule of the day. She was making sure she had very appropriate “Social Separation”.
Ed Hill, Artist
www.edhillart.com