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By Yanna Marie Orcel, MRes (a.k.a. "The BoS Lady")  A blog about the curation, installation, and opening events of Clemmons Family Farm’s Beneath Our Skin: COVID 19 Storytelling & Art Exhibit—on exhibit at four venues throughout Vermont! This work is made possible through major funding from Vermont Department of Health. Beneath Our Skin: Storytelling & Art Exhibit Shares Black Vermonters Experiences and Perspectives of the COVID 19 Vaccine Roll-Out Hello Everyone, and welcome to our Blog! My name is Yanna Marie Orcel, I’m Clemmons Family Farm's Wellness Arts Adviser and the curator of the Beneath Our Skin: COVID 19 Storytelling & Art Exhibit. My background in Art Therapy combined with my recent studies for a Masters of Research in Fine Arts & Humanities degree from Royal College of Art in London gave me a unique perspective on curating this arts-integrated storytelling research exhibition. My boss, who is the Executive Director of Clemmons Family Farm, has started calling me “The BoS Lady,” so let’s run with it! The Beneath Our Skin Exhibit is currently on display at four locations throughout the state of Vermont. In addition to the four exhibit venues, Clemmons Family Farm is hosting an Exhibit Virtual Closing Reception and Presentation on Zoom on May 13th, from 6-7:30 PM EST. This one-of-a-kind exhibit features "arts data": stories, original songs, poetry, and visual art created by thirty Black Vermonters and three white healthcare providers who administered the COVID-19 vaccine during the roll-out. Save the Date: Monday, May 13th (6PM EST) Please join us on Zoom on Monday, May 13th at 6 PM EST for the Beneath Our Skin Exhibit Closing Reception! RSVP and get the Zoom link to attend this virtual event through Eventbrite: bit.ly/CFFBoSVirtualReception. This event creates space for people working in the public health sector and/or in the arts and culture sector to meet up and experience this exhibit together. During the virtual event, Clemmons Family Farm's President and Executive Director, Lydia Clemmons, will give opening remarks and an overview of the Beneath Our Skin COVID 19 Storytelling research project that generated the "arts data" that is displayed through this exhibit, and I will walk us through some of the stories, poems, songs, and visual art created by the project participants. There will be time for group discussion to collectively reflect on the range of stories featured and the new insights they share. To learn more about the Beneath Our Skin: COVID 19 Storytelling & Art Exhibit’s curation, installation, exhibit venues, and opening events, keep reading… Beneath MY Skin: What it felt like to curate this exhibit As a Black Vermonter, curating this exhibit brought up a wide range of emotions. During 2021, I lived in Newport, Vermont and was absolutely terrified of catching COVID. In fact, that crippling fear is the reason I had moved to Vermont from Massachusetts. During the pandemic, I refused to leave my home without wearing a mask (or three). As the years passed, I became used to the ‘new normal’, and had soon forgotten just how deeply the global pandemic had impacted me and all of us. Reviewing and curating the stories, poems, songs, and visual art for the Beneath Our Skin exhibit reminded me of the surreal experiences of vulnerability, horror, and helplessness we all felt just a few years ago.  Yanna Marie Orcel at the opening night of the Beneath Our Skin Exhibit at The Root Social Justice Center in Brattleboro. Photo credit: Adriana Negron. When I was installing the exhibit at the Authentica Gallery at Clemmons Farm, I ran into a snafu with some of the paint coming off the walls while I was taking down the former exhibit. I tried spackling the walls, but that made the situation worse: the patches of color of the spackling stood out starkly against the white color of the walls. Thankfully, Robin Anthony Kouyate, one of Clemmons Family Farm’s board members, was visiting the Farm and joined me in brainstorming ways to work around this issue. We face timed with Robin’s mother for advice, and she suggested using African fabric to cover the discolored spots. The idea didn't quite fit the theme of the exhibit, though- but at that moment, I spotted a dusty box of blue surgical masks (forlorn and forgotten these many months since the waning of the pandemic) handily stationed on a table at the the Authentica gallery entryway: eureka! After installing the masks to hide the mis-matched colors of spackle and paint on the wall, I added a few more to create flow and rhythm while remembering what it felt like to wear those masks as a major part of my everyday attire. While the idea was born from troubleshooting, those blue surgical masks became a trademark of this exhibit. The more I looked at the masks on display and how they complemented the COVID 19 vaccination stories, poems, and visual art prints, the more I appreciated what they offered: the immediate contextualization of the surreal moment in time we were living in during a global pandemic. Incorporating the masks into the exhibit also prompts the viewer to reminisce on their own relationship with masks during the pandemic. While some folks were against mask-wearing entirely, others had mixed emotions about wearing them over their faces, and still others absolutely depended on it. For me, my mask became my protection, my armor, against the coronavirus—in the same way that many Beneath Our Skin participants viewed the vaccine as the only armor they had to fight this deadly virus! In that sense, the blue surgical masks put on display alongside the stories and artwork at each venue truly became the best happy accident I could have hoped for. Just three and some years after the COVID 19 lockdowns, the masks themselves have become rather overlooked. Sure they are still available at the Authentica Gallery (we've dusted off the box!), your local library, or doctor's office, but they do not hold the same significance to us today as they did during lockdown. There was a time when masks, gloves, and hand sanitizer were our uniform; when many of us could not fathom taking our masks off at the store—a time when you heard someone cough while out in public and suddenly your heart started racing. There are a few things that are very reminiscent of this time, the mask being one of them. Alongside masks, remember toilet paper hoarding? Yes! That time when toilet paper became a hot commodity in early 2020! Well, some of us have already forgotten about that. While listening to some of the Beneath Our Skin stories at the College of Nursing and Health Sciences (CNHS) at the University of Vermont with faculty members at the Kick Off Event, one of the faculty members asked why artist Celine Davis included toilet paper icons in her graphic design piece: they couldn't understand what they signified. Everyone else started laughing immediately- laughing at the notion that someone who lived through the pandemic could possibly forget the significance toilet paper had had just three years ago. That moment of spontaneous group laughter reminded me of how detached we have all become from the experiences we had while surviving the global pandemic. This is why it is important that we revisit these stories, to remind ourselves of the challenges we all faced, both collectively and individually, and how through it all, humanity and community brought us together— whether through online Zoom workshops, socially distanced events, or just providing the space for one another to express our hopes and fears during those difficult and “unprecedented” times.  Artist Celine Davis’ artwork created in 2022 for the Beneath Our Skin project: see if you can find the toilet paper rolls! Like the blue surgical masks, COVID 19 vaccination cards became a marker of the COVID pandemic times and part of the Beneath Our Skin exhibit. Remember the days when you needed a vaccination card to get into certain venues, events, and even countries? The COVID 19 vaccination cards became a form of mandatory identification in 2021. Nowadays, the vaccination cards hold a lot less value for the general public, as they are no longer mandatory in most public spaces. However, back in 2021, COVID 19 vaccination cards were a necessity for many. While listening to the stories from the three collections (call-in stories, VAAADAN members, and arts-integrated Chittenden County stories), certain quotes really stood out to me and I chose to highlight them on “COVID 19 Vaccination Reflection Cards”, which I created using graphic design software. The COVID 19 vaccination cards provide an immediate visual representation of those surreal times and are perfect for contextualizing the quotes on display. Whether vaccinated or not, everyone remembers the significance of the COVID 19 vaccination cards!  “COVID 19 Vaccination Reflection Card” featuring a quote from participant “GL”, from the Arts-Integrated Stories of the Chittenden County collection of the Beneath Our Skin project. Installation at Four Venues throughout Vermont The Beneath Our Skin Storytelling & Art Exhibit is currently on display at the Authentica Gallery at the historic Clemmons Farm in Charlotte (only available through appointment), The Root Social Justice Center in Brattleboro, South Burlington Public Library, and at the College of Nursing and Health Sciences (CNHS) at the University of Vermont (UVM). During the first installation of the exhibit, which was at Clemmons Farm, I had the space to explore different options for multimedia displays of the materials for this arts-integrated storytelling exhibit. Although there is plenty of art in this exhibit, this is a research exhibit at its core, which is why we made sure to include a printed copy of the Beneath Our Skin Interim Report at each venue. The result of the curation: a dynamic exhibit that puts equal value and focus on all of the different forms of “arts data” generated through Clemmons Family Farm’s innovative research methodology-- from original paintings to poems, songs, collages, drawings, and everything in between. We’ve included iPads on standing mounts at half of the locations to invite attendees the opportunity to listen along to stories hosted on the Beneath Our Skin online platform. Each of the exhibit venues caters to different subgroups within Vermont’s population. The opening reception at the Clemmons Farm venue welcomed members of the Vermont’s African American / African Diasporan Artists Network (VAAADAN), which comprises nearly 300 Vermont Black artists. The veunue will be open for public viewing on Sundays and by appointment from May 19 - June 16. Meanwhile, South Burlington Public Library invites everyone local to South Burlington to experience the exhibit at their venue. The Root Social Justice Center provides Southern Vermont residents with the opportunity to engage with the exhibit at a venue stewarded by a sister Vermont Black woman-led nonprofit organization! The College of Nursing and Health Sciences at UVM is also hosting the Beneath Our Skin exhibit to introduce this body of work to nursing students, and public health undergraduates, and university faculty members. Combined, these four venues invite a diverse group of Vermonters to engage with the Beneath Our Skin Exhibit. A Brief Recap on Opening Events On Monday, April 8th, while 160,000 people reportedly travelled to Vermont to witness the solar eclipse travel through its path of totality, an intimate group of a few dozen Vermonters gathered at Clemmons Farm for an event called “Bliss Eclipse”. A Private Viewing of the Beneath Our Skin Exhibit for VAAADAN members and other friends of the Farm took place during the first hour of the Bliss Eclipse event; followed by a viewing of the Solar Eclipse and a group jam session. At the Private Viewing, Vermonters discussed the arts data on display, specifically focusing on the word cloud, which featured words used in Black Vermonters’ vaccination stories, words like “Tuskegee”, “freedom”, and “choice”. Learn more about the Bliss Eclipse event through this article, written by Elodie Reed for Vermont Public, detailing the community and wellness-centered event.  At the Private Viewing of Beneath Our Skin Exhibit, at Authentica Gallery, Clemmons Farm in Charlotte, VT on April 8th, 2024. Photo credit: Kay Johnson. Two Beneath Our Skin Exhibit events took place on the second weekend of April at The Root Social Justice Center in Brattleboro, VT. On Friday, April 12th, The Root Social Justice Center hosted an Opening Night for the BoS Exhibit. At the Opening Night, a small group of white and BIPOC Vermonters partook in an intimate conversation discussing the range of responses from Black Vermonters pertaining to the COVID 19 vaccination roll-out. On the following Sunday (April 14th), The Root Social Justice Center hosted a mixer (BIPOC and white Vermonters) Soul Food Sunday event, where dozens of Vermonters of all backgrounds and ages reviewed the BoS Exhibit all while enjoying community and soul food! On Wednesday, April 17th, about a dozen faculty members, including the dean, of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences (CNHS) at the University of Vermont (UVM) met for the Beneath Our Skin exhibit's kick-off event. At the event, we listened to a curated selection of stories, including S’s poem “I want to live”, Artist William Mwanga’s explanation of his artwork, Artist Celine Davis’ explanation of her artwork, Artist Samirah Evans’ original song “The Proof is in the Pudding”, White Provider RE’s story, Artist Harlan Mack’s explanation of his artwork, and more. We discussed our reflections on the stories and the emotions they evoke. The discussion from this event influenced many of the faculty members present to bring their public health classes to see the exhibit on campus. The success of the four opening events is one of the reasons we wanted to provide the space for even more folks to collectively experience this body of work, through a Beneath Our Skin: Virtual Closing Reception and Presentation of the Exhibit that we'll be holding on Zoom, on Mon, May 13, 2024 at 6:00 PM. Key Takeaways…
Learn more about the Beneath Our Skin COVID 19 Storytelling Project and Exhibit
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PO Box 546
Charlotte, Vermont 05445
Leave us a message at: 765-560-5445
Contact us at: [email protected]
Subscribe for news and updates
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