The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) has partnered with renowned artist Carrie Mae Weems to launch a public art initiative raising critical health awareness about COVID-19 and the ways racial inequities have manifested in the pandemic, with people of color inordinately at risk. The artist-driven project, RESIST COVID/TAKE 6}, cites the precaution for people to maintain a six-foot distance from one another and speaks to the urgency of Weems’ call to action.

Weems began working on this new project this spring while artist-in-residence at Syracuse University, as the extent of the COVID-19 crisis became apparent. The idea came from a conversation of Weems and her close friend Pierre Loving, lamenting what they saw unfolding.