An extraordinary illustrated chronicle of 2020 that captures this
indelible year in America in all its tragic, surreal, epic, and
(sometimes) comedic intensity
Artist Elise Engler set herself a task five years ago: to illustrate the
first headline she heard on her bedside radio every morning. The idea
was to create a pictorial record of one year of listening to the news.
But when Donald Trump was elected, the headlines turned too wild for her
to stop the experiment.
Then 2020 happened. Was there ever such a year? Headlines about the
death of Kobe Bryant and Donald Trump's impeachment began to give way to
news of a mysterious virus in China, and Engler's pages were quickly
filled with the march of COVID-19: schools closing their doors,
hospitals overflowing, graveyards full to capacity. Day by day, Engler
drew every shocking turn of the year: the police murder of George Floyd
and protests around the globe; a war against science and those who
preached it; fires consuming California; a vicious election, absurdly
contested. Other stories appeared, too: "Harvey Weinstein Sentenced,"
"Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospitalized," "China Extends Control over Hong
Kong," and--on repeat--"Stock Market Plunges."
The result is a powerful visual record of an unprecedented time,
collected in A Diary of the Plague Year, which follows the headlines
from the first appearance of the coronavirus to the inauguration of
President Joe Biden. Made in real time, Engler's vibrant, immediate
images recapture what it was like to live through 2020, bringing
texture, feeling, and even charm to what we might not remember and what
we will never forget.
