The Love in the Time of Coronavirus Project
J.P. Spicer-Escalante’s The Love in the Time of the Coronavirus Project documents how people have relied upon important relationships in their lives to alleviate the feelings of stress and dismay due to required social-distancing protocols and subsequent spikes in COVID-19 cases in our state.
The project includes 39 portrait photographs of a diverse group of Cache Valley residents paired with text from the participants (in both English and Spanish) describing their experiences during the current health crisis. The participants wear masks, gloves, and clothing that they feel represents their COVID-19 experience while posing with loved ones and pets outside or in their homes, showing how their lives continue to progress in spite of the coronavirus.
01 - J.P. Spicer-Escalante, Lucía Martin
"I selected black and white colors because I did not want to put the focus on me..." / "Seleccioné blanco y negro porque no quería enfocarme en mí..."
02 - J.P. Spicer Escalante, María Luisa and J.P. Spicer-Escalante
“Love, support, wit, and patience have been very important aspects of our daily life.” / “El amor, el apoyo, el ingenio y la paciencia han sido aspectos muy importantes de nuestra vida diaria.”
03 - J.P. Spicer Escalante, Nicole Burnard
“Buddha has been a life saver. I adopted him two years ago when I finished my treatment program for substance abuse." / "Buddha ha sido un salvavidas. Lo adopté hace dos años cuando terminé mi programa de tratamiento de abuso de sustancias nocivas."
04 - J.P. Spicer Escalante, Madelin, Seneca, Beth, and Ron Stagg
"I think the socially distancing in public and face masks will continue for a while." / "Creo que el distanciamiento social en público y las máscaras faciales continuarán por un tiempo."
05 - J.P. Spicer Escalante, Christine and Ricardo Ramirez
“We chose to use our own backyard. It is a place where we can hang out and relax with our dogs." / “Elegimos usar nuestro propio jardín trasero. Es un lugar donde podemos pasar el rato y relajarnos con nuestros perros.”
06 - J.P. Spicer Escalante, Claudia, Eva, and Tim Wright
"We are alive, happy, and well. Privilege? Definitely yes. Time to help others? There should always be time.” / "Estamos vivos, felices y bien. ¿Privilegiados? Definitivamente sí. ¿Tiempo para ayudar a otros? Siempre debe haber tiempo."
07 - J.P. Spicer Escalante, Li Guo
"The most immediate impact is the restriction on travel. Usually in the summer I would visit my parents..." / "El impacto más inmediato es la restricción sobre los viajes. Por lo general, en verano visitaba a mis padres..."
08 - J.P. Spicer Escalante, Celina, Kim, Celine, and Jeff Wille
“Everything coming to a halt has been unsettling." / "Paralizarse todo ha sido inquietante."
09 - J.P. Spicer Escalante, Marisela Martinez-Cola, David Cola, Greg Cola
“A friend once told me that you can’t process trauma when you are in it.” / “Alguna vez, un amigo me dijo que no puedes procesar el trauma cuando estás en él.”
10 - J.P. Spicer Escalante, Juan Villalba and Beatriz Rodríguez Villalba
"This pandemic was a wake-up call." / "Esta pandemia fue una llamada de atención."
11 - J.P. Spicer Escalante, Aline, Chandler, Shane, and Alicia Allen
"My husband and I have become kindergarten teachers for my 5-year old son Chandler." / "Mi esposo y yo nos hemos convertido en maestros de jardín de infantes para mi hijo de 5 años, Chandler."
12 - J.P. Spicer Escalante, Pam and David Hole
"We are spending more time together at home, with just each other, and while some days are more stressful than others, […] we still enjoy being together." / "Pasamos más tiempo juntos en casa, solo el uno con el otro, y aunque algunos días son más estresa...
13 - J.P. Spicer Escalante, Dawn and Matt Hansen
"We have spent a fair amount of our time each day in our backyard to reflect, meditate, and connect with nature during this time." / "Hemos pasado una buena cantidad de nuestro tiempo cada día en nuestro jardín trasero para reflexionar, meditar y conectar...
14 - J.P. Spicer Escalante, Berta Martín Papperitz and Daniel Spicer-Escalante
"The photo was taken on a tennis court, as it’s our place to escape." / "La foto se hizo en una cancha de tenis, pues es nuestro lugar de escape."
15 - J.P. Spicer Escalante, Marina and Sergio Bernal
"On the downside, we cannot see our relatives and friends as frequently as we would like." / "Por el lado negativo, no podemos ver a nuestros familiares y amigos con tanta frecuencia como nos gustaría."
16 - J.P. Spicer Escalante, Beatriz Giganto, Matías Zúñiga Giganto, Oliver Zúñiga Giganto, and Manuel Zúñiga
"We try to occupy our time creating routines with the little ones." / "Intentamos ocupar el tiempo creando rutinas con los pequeños."
17 - J.P. Spicer Escalante, Cleber, Jana, Pedro, Débora, and Calebe Quadros
"In simple and honest words, it helped us to realize that we had everything we needed to be happy inside our home." / "En palabras simples y honestas, nos ayudó a darnos cuenta de que teníamos todo lo que necesitábamos para ser felices en nuestro hogar."
18 - J.P. Spicer Escalante, Chaz and María López-Izatt
"I think this has permanently changed my priorities." / "Creo que esto ha cambiado permanentemente mis prioridades."
19 - J.P. Spicer Escalante, Frank, Kennedy, Maleah, Kendra, Connor, and Pierce Schofield
"The crisis has allowed us to be more explicit as a family about our views of what a just, equitable society looks like..." / "La crisis nos ha permitido ser más explícitos como familia acerca de nuestra visión de cómo es una sociedad justa y equitativa.....
20 - J.P. Spicer Escalante, Lynne McNeill and Stephen VanGeem
"We’ve still been able to help and support each other—as life-long friends if not spouses—through the pandemic." / "Todavía hemos podido ayudarnos y apoyarnos mutuamente, como amigos de toda la vida, si ya no esposos, durante la pandemia."
21 - J.P. Spicer Escalante, Joaquín Ochoa and María Tamariz
"It is something very strong, […] emotionally we would like to be with our loved ones and we can’t." / "Es algo muy fuerte, […] en el aspecto emocional quisiéramos estar con nuestros seres queridos y no podemos."
22 - J.P. Spicer Escalante, Rebecca and Roger Coulombe
"We are fortunate to have each other during this unpleasantness. We celebrated our 45th anniversary quietly." / "Somos afortunados de tenernos el uno al otro durante este momento desagradable. Celebramos nuestro 45 aniversario en silencio."
23 - J.P. Spicer Escalante, Sherrie Mitchell and Michelle Gerencser
"I didn’t work for five weeks. My cats would look at me like 'when are you going to leave?'" / "[N]o trabajé durante cinco semanas. Mis gatos me miraban como diciendo ‘¿cuándo te vas a ir’?"
24 - J.P. Spicer Escalante, Dennis and Janice Brown
"We have spent more time together discussing things that are of importance in our lives." / "Hemos pasado más tiempo juntos discutiendo cosas que son importantes en nuestras vidas."
25 - J.P. Spicer Escalante, Jim and Julie Huppi
"I sincerely hope that the experience of this crisis will continue to help us to value time spent with family and friends..." / "Espero sinceramente que la experiencia de esta crisis continúe ayudándonos a valorar el tiempo que pasamos con la familia y lo...
26 - J.P. Spicer Escalante, Joseph Ward and Susan Grayzel
“It has overturned plans that each of us had made, but it has also given us an even greater sense of our privileges than we had previously." / “Ha cambiado los planes que cada uno de nosotros había hecho, pero también nos ha dado un sentido aún mayor de n...
27 - J.P. Spicer Escalante, Shelly and Eduardo Ortiz
"This has been a time for Eduardo and I to focus on our relationship and the things we want out of life." / "Este ha sido un momento para que Eduardo y yo nos enfoquemos en nuestra relación y las cosas que queremos de la vida."
28 - J.P. Spicer Escalante, Noelle Cockett
“Old Main is the location of my office but also signifies USU as a whole. We have worked hard to create a safe place at USU." / “Old Main es la ubicación de mi oficina, pero también significa USU como conjunto. Hemos trabajado duro para crear un lugar seg...
29 - J.P. Spicer Escalante, Lucille Hansen
“All things that make me feel secure and safe are in the photo." / “Todas las cosas que me hacen sentirme segura están en la foto."
30 - J.P. Spicer Escalante, Adrianne and Aiden Moore
"The greatest struggle for me has been coming to terms with the unknown." / "La lucha principal para mí ha sido aceptar lo desconocido."