While the final two artworks in 2021 focus on how life goes on and how it compares to a fairy tale, the emphasis from end-of-year media repeatedly focused on who left [died].
Though every state and country will be running their own numbers, death statistics in Oregon indicate at least 45,000 people have crossed that data table. Recorded cause of death is dependent on where a person lived and died. For Oregonians the primary causes are: cancer, heart disease, unintentional injury, chronic lower respiratory disease and stroke. “Excess deaths” are defined as death by people less than 80 years old. For Oregonians this category suggests about half excess deaths were due to COVID.
To say goodbye and honor some of the many, I searched through the 2021 death announcements for creatives.
As we remain in a state of suspended animation due to the pandemic, my inspiration for artwork comes from quotes available online. My criteria necessitate a spark that their voices resonate to me in a visual manner. My sources are secondary, including Virtual Psych Centre, Scary Mommy, Brainy Quote, Inspiring Quotes, Quotes, Epic Quotes, A-Z Quotes, Quote Tab, Huff Post, Quotes Memo, interviews at Pin Up magazine and Bomb, and Good Reads.
I searched about twenty creatives who died in 2021. Some causes of death remained unknown and/or unpublished (four). None of the people investigated died from Covid. Only one (Betty White) was said to die of “natural causes.” Three died from cancer; two from kidney failure; five from heart disease; one from lung disease; one from complications of Parkinson’s; one from gunshot wound; and one from a fall causing brain damage. I couldn’t find enough material to honor visual artists Hung Liu [cancer] and Yolanda Lopez [cancer] and writer Jakucho Setouchi [heart failure]. Maybe later.
Here are the ones that inspired potential New Works as visual statements:
Almudena Grandes [cancer] 1960-2021; Spanish novelist and feminist, described by her prime minister as “one of the most important writers of our time.”
bell hooks [kidney failure] 1952-2021; essential feminist thinker.
Betty White (Betty Marion White Ludden) [natural causes], 1920-2021; comedian, actress.
Beverly Cleary [no cause of death given] 1917-2021; Oregon children’s literature doyenne.
DMX (Earl Simmons), [cocaine-induced heart attack] 1970-2021; rapper.
Danish Siddiqui [gunshot wounds] 1983-2021; photo journalist.
Dave Hickey [cardiovascular disease] 1938-2021; art critic
Eric Carle [kidney failure] 1930-2021; children’s book author and illustrator.
Eric Jerome Dickey [cancer] 1962-2021; bestselling novelist and “one of the greatest wordsmiths of the 21st century.”
Etel Adnan [heart disease] 1925-2021; artist.
Jerry Pinkney [heart disease] 1940-2021; children’s book illustrator.
Joan Didion [complications of Parkinson’s] 1934-2021; author.
Kaari Upson [cancer] 1970-2021; artist.
Lawrence Ferlinghetti [lung disease] 1920-2021; Beat era legend; poet, publisher; opened the SF bookstore “City Lights.”
Luciano Perna [heart disease] 1958-2021; artist.
Mary Catherine Bateson [brain damage from a fall] 1940-2021. Author of “Composing a Life” and daughter of Margaret Mead.
Marie-Claire Blais [unknown] 1939-2021; French Canadian novelist, “one of the most import writers of our time,” Clay Risen in a NYT article, 12/07/2021.
Stephen Sondheim [cardiovascular disease] 1930-2021; composer and lyricist.
Virgil Abloh [cancer] 1980-2021; designer.