Thinh Dinh
Location: 2691 30th Street
Covid Community Murals
Mural 1: (Left)
Amidst the initial outbreak of the pandemic, many countries around the world had restricted travel and implemented quarantine measures; others entered into complete lockdown. Restaurants, bars and tourist attratctions closed their doors. People were working from home instead of driving to the office. As a result, cities that usually teem with people seemed empty and quite.
A paper fan tree looms in the distance against a church, with candles flickering at its base. A satellite splits the horizon between these two spaces, continually orbiting on its path. A lone figure wanders the frozen world in solitude. Beneath them, kites and lanterns gently sway back and forth on the passing breeze.
This piece embodies the eerie stillness that followed the COVID shutdown.
Mural 2 (Right)
Within the composition is a dove, overlooking a crowded cityscape populated by traces of consumerism. There are stools & tables arranged outside a restaurant, with icons on its exterior symbolizing the volatility and lack of security in the food service industry.
This industry was one of the hardest hit by the pandemic and often employs very vulnerable sectors of the population: immigrants, people of color, and undocumented individuals. Regarding risk of SARS-CoV-2 exposure, people in these communities are at increased risk both because their economic situation requires continuation of work despite “social distancing” and “stay-at-home” recommendations and because the types of jobs most commonly worked by immigrants often require face-to-face interactions.
Additionally, because undocumented immigrants are ineligible for national unemployment benefits in addition to CARES Act benefits, job loss or reduced work hours due to the pandemic may lead to significantly decreased financial reserve in immigrant households. The intricacies of poverty, limited access to healthcare, and fear of legal repercussions as a result of historical and ongoing racist/xenophobic policies place vulnerable immigrant communities within the US at high risk and these disparities have only been exacerbated by the pandemic. Depicted above are sticks of incense, in remembrance of lives lost to COVID-19. Some have already been lit and long smoldered away, and others wait on the next soul.
Thinh currently lives and works in Boulder, CO. He was born in Saigon, Vietnam and spent 5 years of his childhood there before immigrating to the US. Today, he works primarily as a illustrator and designer, printmaking with an emphasis on intaglio and silkscreen.
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