During the first year of the pandemic, I had some time on my hands.  There was a lot to witness and process, and found that making these stopmotions was a great outlet for pent up creative angst.

The first series was made during the first few months of 2021.  It begins with the dumpster fire of 2020 and a shaky start to 2021, followed by the rollercoaster of January 6th, the timelessness of lockdown, the last day of Trump’s presidency, and an upbeat one for Valentine’s Day.

The second series marked every 10% of complete vaccinations reached in the United States.  This is an interesting one to reflect on now, because there was so much hope in with the arrival of vaccines.  If we could just reach 70% or more, it was thought we could eradicate the virus.  The first 40% went quickly, roughly a month apart from each other. as the roll out of vaccines ramped up.  Anticipation was in the air.  Things slowed down at that point, Delta arrived, most other countries surpassed our vaccination rates, and we finally reached 50% in August.  From there, vaccinations slowed to a crawl, and we hit 60% in the winter, just as Omicron arrived.  At this point, we have leveled out at roughly 67%.  While vaccines are still effective in reducing chances of severe disease, their role has changed from what we first hoped.  Looking back at these makes it clear how much things have evolved since then to living with the virus.