COVID_19: Labor Camp Report Project

Public Media Institute and Co-Prosperity are honored to present Piotr Szyhalski’s COVID_19: Labor Camp Report Project, which will be wheat pasted and installed on the Co-Prosperity exterior mural wall and on the walls of Maria’s Packaged Goods & Community Bar and Pizza Fried Chicken Ice Cream.

On March 24, 2020, in direct response to the global coronavirus pandemic, artist Piotr Szyhalski created his first COVID-19: Labor Camp Report. What started as a single drawing slowly morphed into a daily practice, a way to reconcile and record the thoughts, feelings, and change being wrought in the world. These ink drawings and hand-lettered texts were shared daily by Szyhalski on Instagram, poignantly capturing our politically fraught and painful landscape over the course of 225 days. Accompanied by powerful captions by the artist, the series operates as both a witness to the current crisis and a container of time, time that is both labored and lost.

These daily dispatches, shared with thousands via social media platforms, serve as a way of witnessing, processing, and record-ing the complexities of life during the first eight months of the global COVID-19 pandemic. At times harsh and confrontational, other times quiet and contemplative, the Reports map multiple layers of interwoven historical phenomena: from the global health crisis, economic inequities, and the uprising following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police to environmental catastrophes and the waning days of the autocratic regime in the United States.

The series COVID-19: Labor Camp Reports comprises 225 posters, hand drawn by Szyhalski daily from March 24 to November 3, 2020.

Co-Prosperity is located at 3219 S. Morgan Street,

Maria’s Packaged Goods & Community Bar is located at 960 W 31st St

Pizza Fried Chicken Ice Cream is located next door at 964 W 31st St.