Souls on Hold is a photo series that aims to be an elegy for loss and grief in pandemic times.
Quarantine doomed falling to coronavirus and other terminal diseases to die in solitude. Regardless of culture or religion, the ancient rituals that honour the departed and comfort the bereaved have been postponed or abandoned during this global pandemic to avoid further spreading the virus. In these pandemic times, death leaves nowhere to grieve.  We migrants share a similar experience when losing loved ones in our home countries and skip funerals. When my sister passed away, I lived held in a limbo of sorrow and despair from I could not move forward until I returned to Venezuela and took her ashes to her special place.

In her loving memory and inspired by Jorge Manrique's stanzas, I started to develop a memorial art project out of this photo series called “The Elegy for The Souls on Hold.” I aim to create an evocative space for the drivers to remember and honour the lives of the loved ones they missed during the pandemic and invite the orient to discern on death and grief in isolation. The project revisits memories of life, love and resilience.

To know more and participate in The Elegy for the Souls on Hold Project, click here



Mirna Chacín, April 2020 - ongoing