Profile of a Pandemic

A summer of adaptation and change in H-E-B

With the ability to document everything around us with cell phones, it has been easy to become oversaturated with face mask selfies, socially-distant gatherings, and protest footage -- a feeling of enormity only worsened by the fact that most national commentary focuses on rising COVID-19 death counts, poll numbers, and vague historical parallels.

In both pandemic reporting and conversations of racial inequity, groups are often reduced to either mass statistics or portrayed as isolated cases. In a moment of significant social change, it’s crucial to recognize that these changes are happening within our own communities.

Therefore, this digital collection of photos and oral histories shows the ways the virus and #BLM movement has changed my community, highlighting individual narratives and restoring dignity to the diverse, ever-adapting people in it. 

Interviews were collected from May to August 2020.

Project by Ash Thye

Featured: Deyana Wilson, Leah Thye & Bleu, Pamela Gonzalez