We’ve lived through some weird times in the last couple years. It has been interesting to see how the pandemic has affected the quality and quantity of art we received. Some people are settling into the new normal or back into an old and comfortable normal, but I am acutely reminded that progress isn’t linear. There are great days and days we might want to forget and days full of hope of promise. The most striking thing to me in this year’s art collection is its vibrancy. I often associate the word vibrant with positive emotions but I am not sure that is wholly fair. I hope you enjoy the vibrancy we’ve curated here and have a deeper understanding that vibrancy is important to understanding that our world is not dichotomous and progress is not linear. Lean into the dull and vibrant; tomorrow is another day.
— Anna Jordan
Visual Arts Editor
Recollection is never cyclical. Whenever a memory is recalled, the brain remembers it in a slightly different way. Your mind creates new paths to that memory with new associations and connections that alter it. All those fractal and fragmented images that fill our minds, the ones that haunt us or make us laugh, are only as they were the last time they were recalled. Once sharp snapshots of birthdays, friends, birds lounging on telephone wires can grey, warp, or muddle with other memories before the paths to them are forgotten entirely. This, however, is necessary. The brain is always treading down new paths for new memories in all their bright, screaming colors to remember new friends, new birthdays, and new birds on telephone wires. Forgetting is the brain's way of saying, "Keep going." Keep going and keep living.
— Lindsey Walter
VA Intern
