Abstract
Sheida Soleimani made the seven works collectively titled Coping Mechanisms in response to a prompt posed in early 2021, “what does fun look like now?” Beginning with composed still lifes about lockdown, Soleimani photographed birds she was rehabilitating, canned food from the garden, homemade spirits, books from the proliferating pandemic reading lists, and a zoom call with a family member. Juxtaposing these domestic pursuits are background images of mass graves of Covid victims in Iran, a mosque being fumigated for the virus, and tons of food waste resulting from the shutdown of restaurants in 2020. By widening the question to include global awareness and suffering in her response, Soleimani suggests that finding joy requires taking care. Getting personal for the first time in her work, Soleimani offers us humor, family, sustenance, shelter and rehabilitation as her “coping mechanisms,” for pandemic times.