Exhibition

BFA Visual and Critical Studies presents “Greetings from Pandemic Island,” an exhibition of pigment prints on acrylic, digital prints on paper, and projections by Viktor Koen, chair of BFA Illustration and BFA Comics. Curated by Manolis Moresopoulos, artistic director of the Athens Photo Festival, the exhibition will be on view from Friday, February 21 – Sunday, March 16, at the Flatiron Project Space, 133 West 21 Street.

Initially conceived as a set of postcards, “Greetings from Pandemic Island,” evolved into a pictorial bridge between the 1918–19 influenza and COVID-19 pandemics. Spanning a turbulent century, the series documents the brutal realities of such crises by questioning issues of personal and collective responsibility, humanity, and gross indifference but also highlights an intricate web of long existing layers of racial and socioeconomic disparities catalyzed by the epidemic.

Utilizing a wide range of archival photography, turn of the century advertising and public service propaganda, this visual essay functions as a vivid reminder of viral global experiences still unfolding through mass and social media on our devices. But mostly, about the obsessive urgency to simply make something and stay mentally afloat when everything around was sinking.

“Greetings from Pandemic Island” premiered as a solo exhibition at the Benaki Museum, part of the 2022 International Athens Photo Festival. Among exhibitions in Manila and Provence; the series was featured as a solo exhibition photo-cube at the 2023 Photoville Festival.