Beth Kerschen Art

This new artwork is a continuation of my exploration of the urban landscape, but it has been dramatically influenced by what I saw and experienced through the events of 2020.

This series is about the reflection and introspection needed in response to the uncertainty and confusion due to the pandemic and the political events of 2020. My home in Portland, Oregon was a hotbed of action due to lockdowns, closures, protests, and fires. The city’s facade I normally photograph changed drastically with a constant rotation of boards, signs, messages, murals, graffiti, and smoke. I could feel these messages from the streets…the emotion, pain, the calls for help…but also so many calls for hope, support, listening, learning, love, and awareness. As I walked the city streets during this time, I could hear the people’s voices coming through the walls. I was pulled to witness, listen, and document what I saw then synthesize these voices into new photomontage work. It clearly became a way for me to process it all and look for hope through this tumultuous time.

This whole process made me think about my depiction of urban life and my hope, in these times, is that we learn how to create new systems to allow for sustainable, healthy, safe, and abundant ways for everyone to live. My wish is for this new work to help you process this intense time and inspires new ideas of hope >