Item description
A grayscale pen drawing on a black background. Upside down and to the right side is a large thermometer, the word “WelchAllyn” across the top. Extending from the top of the thermometer is a curly cord that leads to a thin probe at the bottom of the drawing. Overlapping the thermometer and cord is a text message conversation: the first text to the right reads “How are you feeling physically?” a smaller “Read Friday'' underneath; the conversation continues after a timeskip, “Friday 9:24 PM” in the center and below that to the left “I am up and down”; another timeskip at the center, “Yesterday 10:29 AM”, and to the right “Update me?” and “Thinking of you alot”; another timeskip, “Today 12:09 PM”, and a text to the right reads “Concerned”, a small circle with an exclamation point is outlined next to it, and “Not Delivered” is underneath the message. Next to the piece on the right are the name and words “Moriah LeFebvre”, “Untitled”, “Ink drawing”, and “2020”.
Image | 2024
Works In Rough Going: Recovery Community and Communication During the Pandemic 5
Moriah LeFebvre
The drawings in this series contain words collected and curated from text message exchanges between members of the recovery community during the COVID-19 pandemic. I paired their messages with the images that these words evoked for me when I took the time to sit with them. Text messages are fleeting and digital; they aren’t meant to last. Yet during the pandemic, these pixels on screens became lifelines. I wanted to honor them, to memorialize them and commit them to permanence, deliberately and slowly. I hand drew all of the pieces in this series, sometimes taking the further step of using the sun to expose and create cyanotype prints of the drawn images.
