State of Loss (2021)

by mail

Sent October 9 –  October 30, 2021. Reception dates varied.

Skewed Visions produced a memorial by-mail performance commemorating the losses we have faced since the first death in the US from COVID. Titled State of Loss, it was created by Charles Campbell after the pandemic shut down all performing arts. Those who signed up received four pieces of mail over the course of a month that accumulated, piece by piece, Occurrence after Occurrence, into an Exposure. Each piece was hand stamped with a date and a number. The date of the first piece marked the first confirmed death in the US from COVID. The final date marked the last mailing. The numbers below the date marked the total number of deaths in the US from COVID on that date. The piece was mailed to four countries and 15 US states. People often sent images of themselves, their mail, and/or their mailboxes, documenting the process over space and time.

Thanks to Tim Heitman, Jess-Kiel-Wornson, and Laurie Van Wieren for their material support, and to the many individual donors and moral supporters who made this project possible.

The final Exposure (framed)

Other Works

• Birds of the Future (2019)
• Want (2018)
• Appetite (2017)
• More works on our Portfolio