Joon Powell

Joon Powell

No one will forget those first harrowing weeks of scanning the news and seeing rates of infection dot maps and then turn entire continents red. Since the spring of 2020, the deadly virus Covid-19 has taken hundreds of thousands of American lives and altered countless more forever. 

Our families navigated the crisis by going into isolation. Our homes became our workplaces, schools, playgrounds, and refuges as we tried to mark the seemingly endless time by celebrating birthdays, caring for animals, and exploring within all those parameters we deemed safe.

I have always photographed my family, but these photographs serve as a record of our pandemic experience documenting how we have devoted our time and attention. As I observed this strange season of my children’s lives, I came to understand their resilience, as they see the world in all its beauty and its brokenness. My children strove for connection like wildflowers lean toward the sunlight. May we all do the same.