About the Project

“The City is a Body” is an animation that aims to highlight some of the disparities in COVID-19 outcomes experienced by different communities in San Francisco, and to explore what existing disparities may have played a role. The project visualizes a part of an interview I conducted with Dr Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, Professor and Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and Vice Dean for Population Health and Health Equity in the UCSF School of Medicine, discussing the COVID-19 disparities in San Francisco disproportionately affecting BIPOC communities. To further contextualize our interview, I complied public data (up to July 2021) on COVID-19 infections and deaths, and other socioeconomic variables. The resulting animation is an introduction to a much more complex story of how systemic racism, access to education, housing, medical care, types of jobs, and other factors all play a role in why certain communities and neighborhoods in San Francisco were hit so much harder during the first year and a half of the pandemic.

To learn about my process, watch the full interview with Dr Bibbins-Domingo, and read about my other projects through the Artist in Residence 2020, please visit the UCSF Library website.