COVID-19, Opportunities & the Arts.

Chaos & Fear

During the last few months as I considered starting a monthly blog I listed topics for posts and added ideas to them as they came to me. Never have I imagined suddenly blogging about a virus. While all our inboxes and social media feeds are overflowing with issues surrounding this pandemic, surely talking about something else may be helpful. But in truth, I struggle to focus on anything else.  

As we know, something unprecedented is unfolding around the globe which has left us feeling immense uncertainty, anxiety and fear. It is not just businesses, schools and churches that are shutting but towns, cities and even countries. A global pandemic that will be keeping us contained in our homes, maybe for months, is reorienting our relationship to our leaders, to the outside world, even to each other. Pablo Larios, Freeze Magazine’s senior editor wrote “From self-quarantines to social distancing, coronavirus has already shattered our work, social and cultural routines… It won’t be business-as-usual for a long time – maybe never again”.

Opportunities

Every crisis also present opportunity as Winston Churchill remarked “never waist a good crisis”. I am impressed by the fast and radical advancement in the use of technology in our children’s schools while I am simultaneously grateful to see how the piles of paperwork that usually comes home from school are suddenly gone. I find the images of blue skies and low pollution count that my friends in Delhi, a city I learned to love, are sharing encouraging. In our neighborhood I see more people walking, riding bicycles and going out with boats on the lake than ever before. Families are moving in little bubbles as we reconnect with those closest to us. I feel like the world went quiet providing us the chance to listen to the heartbeat of humanity.

Peter T. Coleman professor of psychology at Columbia University wrote that the de-militarization of American patriotism and love of community will be one of the benefits to come out of this whole awful mess. Here we have a “common enemy” scenario and the heroes are our healthcare workers. Coleman says that “people begin to look past their differences when faced with a shared external threat” This may unite us in ways not possible before. Another very interesting fact that Coleman points out is the “political shock wave” scenario. According to him “a study of 850 enduring inter-state conflicts that occurred between 1816 to 1992 found that more than 75 percent of them ended within 10 years of a major destabilizing shock… given our current levels of tension, this scenario suggests that now is the time to begin to promote more constructive patterns in our cultural and political discourse”.

Where does Art come in?

In a recent email Blazing Editions wrote “In light of recent global events, art is a necessity in times of uncertainty”. Heinz Playner, Curator & Art Critic stated “Art is particularly important in times of crisis. None other than artists reflect reality through their art, but artists also give society hope through their art.”

Art influences society by changing ideas, instilling values and translating experiences across space and time -but I believe it can also be much more. I believe in times as these that all our focus is on the unpredictable and unstable world around us, art can help us turn inward. It can help us process our emotions. It can channel and recalibrate our understanding of the familiar, and to see the world anew.

For years much of my work has been a personal /emotional outlet, a way to make sense of my world, my past, my present. As this health /fear pandemic hit I caught a tsunami of inspiration in a drastically different direction. Poet, Guiseppe Getto wrote “I hope to use my work to make sense of the world when it seems to have gone mad” I simply hope mine may be a flicker of light. Within the next two weeks I will release a new body of work titled “Isolation” reflecting on my perceptions of hope and growth.  

We will get through this. It will not be easy but perhaps we will be even stronger, closer or more resilient than we have ever been before. Perhaps this is what we needed to get perspective and to live a more whole hearted life.



Wherever you are, I hope that you are ok.