Clara Lemos, Where to next - Despite being an art lover for as long as I can remember, it was not until the beginning of 2021 that I decided to create my own art. In the middle of a global pandemic and going through a period of maternity leave, I felt that I needed to open up a new chapter in my life. I felt an immense need to cope with all the outside stress and anxiety and find a place of my own. My artworks are my response to the COVID-19 pandemic and my very personal way of finding meaning in isolation.

Sarah Harvey, Captain Sir Tom Moore, Watercolour, 25 x 35cm - Captain Sir Tom Moore became a huge inspirational figure when, in the run up to his 100th birthday, (which I actually share with him) he walked one hundred lengths of his garden to raise money for NHS charities. 

After Sir Captain Tom Moore passed away, I was deeply saddened, as was the whole of the Uk and even the whole of the world which responded with flypasts and tributes. He touched so many peoples lives and I wanted to Honour his commendable efforts in his last year and his incredible life by painting his portrait.

Misty Williams Forrest, My Idol Katherine Johnson! - I was 10 years old when the lockdown started. Being isolated at home gave me an opportunity to spend more time doing art and wider reading. I love astronomy and stargazing and my dream is to be a scientist. Since the BLM movement during lockdown, I have learnt more details about black history and black issues in lock down, which I was not aware of  before. Being a child it has been sad to discover the issues black people face. Also confusing as skin colour is so irrelevant to me and all my friends. Art has always brought me comfort, so I created this portrait of  Katherine Johnson, I used pencil and water colour.

Mellow Williams Forrest, I Miss My Friends’ - My name is Mellow Williams Forrest, I was 6, when the pandemic started in March 2020. When the announcement came that school would close, I started this piece of art of my class. I used just a black Biro pen. I knew that I might not see them for some time, already I was missing my friends’. As the last week of school continued I noticed my class getting smaller and smaller as families started to isolate. By Friday I had almost done. We didn’t see each other again until September. Some friends did not return, as they moved to other countries. This was really sad! Thankfully I have this art to remember them.

Jessie Novik, Corona Crunch - Before the lockdown, I hadn’t used oils in many years. I hadn’t had time or space for long-term personal projects that didn’t guarantee income. I started painting murals on my walls but eventually ran out of wall space. Shortly after I lost my job in August, my beloved Grandfather passed away, leaving me his old set of oils. In his honor, I rearranged my apartment to safely accommodate oil painting and I set out to make a series of paintings uniquely specific to this time. This cute and creepy little portrait represents the chaos and terror of 2020. I don’t have kids, but when I think about raising them now, this is the feeling that comes up. Kudos to all those parents making it through!

Richard Mensah, Dear Mom - Dear Mom is a third in my series of the ‘lockdown rebels’, a series of painting completed during the third national lockdown in UK during the COVID-19 pandemic. The series explores the challenges and how families have adapted and are coping with spending a greater part of the day at home especially with children requiring and wanting attention round the clock during the lockdown period. This 3rd instalment is about the daily negotiations, little chit chats between parents and kids and the constant time and attention required by children is captured.

Sara Netherway, GRANDMA - The piece is about the loneliness and isolation that older people feel during lockdown in England during the pandemic. Particularly those who are sheltering because of their age and already compromised health. The image is looking down from above giving a sense of isolation, with the pallet giving a sense of loneliness and the single mug on the kitchen worktop.

Philippa Clarke, Quotidian (Pizza night @ the Bucks Head) - Quotidian is a series of charcoal drawings on paper. The series is on-going and to date there are 150 drawings. During lockdown, unable to access my studio to paint, I began drawing to help feel in control when everything was dramatically out-of-control and unknown. The act of drawing was a way of slowing down, taking notice and recording everyday and otherworldly aspects of Covid-19. I posted each drawing on social-media, talking about personal experiences with a wider community. As time progressed, certain themes insisted themselves: the importance of outside space for exercise and escape; the role of technology in work, play and social lives; family and domestic life; community and key workers. Covid-19 continues to affect all segments of society but experiences of it are not universal.

Tushar Sabale, Lockdown Hairdresser - UK officially went into lockdown on 23rd March 2020. Lockdown has been very challenging for so many of us at many different levels. While some struggled to keep up with the new normal, others struggled to even do the basic household chores. Learning basic survival skills has been the highlight of the lockdown. With all the basic shops and salon closed, Ruchi my wife, like in many households, turned into a family hair dresser for all of us. I documented many such occurrences of lockdown in my paintings. Seen here is my wife with my younger daughter who clearly is not very happy to get yet another trim at home.

Thaer Maaroufs, Today is my birthday(21/4/2020) - I drew this painting on the first corona lockdown, and this coincided with my birthday as I could not invite anyone to celebrate! So, I drew myself while sitting at my studio window, smoking a cigarette and drinking coffee! Smoke heading inward indicates that pollution caused by humans falls in the beginning on the person himself! I later hung the painting from the outside on the same painted window in an attempt to say that art can continue even in difficult circumstances! The painting documents an ordinary day of a painter in his studio and a challenge to the lockdown.

Helena Holland Breger, Summer in the City 2020 - Is a self-portrait of myself and my boyfriend, based on a selfie we took in late June 2020: We broke quarantine to vote, and we had a beer as we waited on the stoop of my childhood apartment to see my father for the first time since quarantine began. This portrait captures both this day as well as most of our summer. Like many others, COVID-19 left us unemployed, so we took daily walks, sitting on stoops, listening to music, talking about art, film or politics, enjoying beers, sometimes even playing the guitar and singing. These were moments of repose in a year of personal changes and global tragedy, and a summer where political tensions boiled over across the country.

Claire Cansick, All Your Dreams Are Here - Taking a walk became my escape, I loved to do it alone although felt guilty for asking to. Alone I could feel. I live rurally so quickly come to open fields, country lanes and rivers, something I took for granted before and which now healed my neurosis and I really began to see. Appreciating and the night sky was the best therapy; looking beyond my inner world, beyond my surroundings, the virus, the planet and out into pure existence gave me beautiful perspective. Elaborating the night sky entered my work, I’d been dabbling with the stars for a while but now began painting dramatic imagined skies, drawing on Hubble Space Telescope images and placing them above our heads. It is real, it’s up there, look!

Sève Favre, Self Intervariactif Portrait - Very marked of the hyper-medicalisation of our daily life that resulted from covid, and which made the individual story resonate with the global story. I looked at my own medical history through this interactive self-portrait. This self-portrait on canvas is transformable and evolutionary. It can be installed to reveal different states. It thus becomes a “tableau clinique”, according to the medical term in french. Dissected, stapled, sutured, broken, x-rayed, bandaged, wounded, plastered, pricked, bled, operated, isolated, medicated, treated, tested, vaccinated: The disease has taken shape, my body is medicalised by the doctors : Clinical case in a clinical environment. The transformation of the painting is possible by touching it, thus subjecting it to the risk of being “wounded/contaminated” by the person who intervenes to reveal its possibilities and thus make it live.

Sherine Nazmy, Devotion, 130 x 90cm. Acrylic & mixed media on canvas - To honor all front-liners during the challenging time of the COVID-19. I was inspired by my parents who are in the medical field - a general surgeon father and a pharmacist mother. Despite the danger due to the pandemic, they have been and still are very much persistent to do all what it takes to lead their medical crews by example and provide medical support and advice 24x7 to those in-need. I’m sincerely honored to be their daughter. May God bless all our loved ones and front-liners across the globe.

Tracey Elliott, Reason for drawing - I read Louise’s story on facebook last summer and it brought me to tears. For me it epitomised the severe emotional strain of looking after Covid patients and the physical trauma they have to endure from wearing PPE all day. She was in total despair when she and her colleagues looked through the window and saw crowds of people, with no concern for social distancing, enjoying the sun outside while they were stuck in a nightmare made worse by these selfish people.

AJ Illustration, Charlotte - Consisting of thousands of dots, this A3 portrait took over 100 hours to complete in a pointillism style with no outlines. The portrait is of Lettisha Howells, a nursery nurse in Singleton Hospital. Having worked for the NHS for 20 years, Lettisha is a nursery nurse working between neonates and postnatal and has previously worked on paediatrics and paediatric palliative care.

Gregory Knight, Urban ‘Not’ Outfitted - We must change the urban environment and accept that the space isn’t unlimited, where everything can be wasted and abused. The city street is a story of people, and we must look at the most vulnerable before these types of pandemics and disasters occur more and more. Some of the troubles we have today are a warning where people and corporations are more selfish, aggressive, and materialistic in making the most of their individualistic needs. Until we start looking at these things differently, we won’t be able to coexist together. In my painting, I wanted to emphasize consumption, imbalance, waste, homelessness, and the healthcare crisis from one perspective. The disadvantaged people during this Covid crisis could be there literally at your feet.

Junie Tang, Don’t Sit Down - In 2020, Singapore went through a two-month long circuit breaker (stay-at-home order) between 7 April to 1 June to ease the spread of COVID-19. As soon as the circuit breaker began, the city state’s ever-bustling central area and heartland neighbourhoods came to a standstill almost instantaneously. And as a preventive measure for people to gather and mingle in the shared public spaces, such as the playgrounds and HDB’s void decks, the local authority used red and white safety tapes to wrap around areas that might encourage any kind of association among the residents. While taking the picture, a song that describes this strange scene in front of me came to mind, and hence, used as the title of the artwork.

Felicity Mansell, Student Reflections - A photograph depicting the visual concept of being isolated as a student during the pandemic. It features my companion, performing how I felt during lockdown. The angular planes of the adjoining wall in the background, represent the structure we look for in everyday life, that we are unable to achieve during the pandemic. The shadow is simply interacting with her former self, unable to regain form and structure much like how we feel as students at the moment. Heightened by the student lanyard.

Charlotte Tamkin, A radiator that loses heat at the same rate a body does after death - The pandemic and the deaths in which it threatens to cause seem to exist within a polarity that is both entirely distant, yet permanently close within our everyday lives. “A radiator that loses heat at the same rate a body does after death” is a tackling of this constant contrast, as it attempts to elucidate and soften the process of dying by anchoring itself within the familiarity of the everyday object. The distance between the idea of what it means to be alive, and the idea of what it means to be dying is collapsed between artwork and viewer; the work asks for a sensory engagement, a reminder that those that experience it remain alive.

heather michel riddle, Looking In - We have lived in this house for 9 years. Last spring, little did we know we would begin living in our home more than ever before. Sometimes it feels like we’ve lived so many years in just one day. I started photographing our home from the outside, looking in through the windows. The peaceful stillness in the photograph makes it appear as though the house is empty. This juxtaposition of empty and full speaks to the contradictions felt during this pandemic - close and separate, safe and vulnerable, temporary and never-ending.

Ann-Marie LeQuesne, HATS ON!  - Warren Street Station, London, 20/12/20 - Plan A for this performance was to cross the road, as a socially distanced group, wearing unusual hats, masks and winter coats. Then COVID intervened… so I asked participants to cross the road where they live and send me their videos. These have all gone into a base video from the original location, showing unlikely encounters. Videos came from ENGLAND: London, Peterborough, Hastings, Norfolk; SWEDEN: Stockholm, Norrahammar, Varnamo; USA: Wisconsin, New York, Iowa, Colorado; FRANCE; SCOTLAND and TAIWAN. HATS ON! was the 23rd Annual Group Photograph. www.theannualgroupphotograph.com

Clair Robins, My Covid Jab Memory Box 2021 -  As a photographic visual artist, my image creation is often inspired and driven by souvenirs, collections and daily life, so during the past 12 months it has been fairly easy to create artworks fuelled by lockdown. The mundane starts to appear less mundane. Being at home has focused my observations and caused me to re-evaluate my environment, home and family with a fresh eye. ‘My Covid Jab Memory Box 2021’ still life photograph really seems to sum up the events and challenges we have had to face during 2020-21. It feels like a breaking point to the lockdown cycle, the glimmer of hope of a more ‘normal’ future. www.clairrobins.com, Instagram: @clairscollections

Susan Fey, locked - Linolschnitt auf Hygienemasken (serie) 2020 - Beim ersten Lockdown 2020 hat mich die Hilflosigkeit die das tragen einer Hygienemasken im Alltag auslöst sehr beschäftigt, deshalb wurden die Masken zu meinem Werkstoff. Der Mund, die Lippen, ob nonverbal oder verbal, sind für die Kommunikation zwischen Menschen entscheidend. Die ganze Gesichtsmimik wird durch das tragen einer Maske verändert. Können wir im Gesicht nicht mehr lesen, oder die Worte nur schlecht verstehen, ist die Kommunikation unterbrochen. Der schwarze Druck auf einer, in der momentanen Situation zum Alltagsgegenstand gewordenen, Maske verstärkt und überhöht die Aussage des Textes. Es schreit uns förmlich an.

Jennifer Cabral, Membrane - The coronavirus is thought to spread from person-to-person mainly among those who are in close contact with one another within 6 feet. This negative space where no interaction is permitted is here represented as circumferences over a series of family photos. Separated by no travel mandates, I carry the mandated 6ft social distancing as a solace: “even if we were together, we would be apart”. An invisible sphere separates within from without. Like a cell membrane. The circles when over photographs I’ve taken over the years of my family becomes an evocation for protection. These spheres are reminders of the cellular connection between all matter and a symbolic shield of immunity, a sort of geometric spell so nothing penetrates our membranes.

Jennifer Cabral, Membrane - The coronavirus is thought to spread from person-to-person mainly among those who are in close contact with one another within 6 feet. This negative space where no interaction is permitted is here represented as circumferences over a series of family photos. Separated by no travel mandates, I carry the mandated 6ft social distancing as a solace: “even if we were together, we would be apart”. An invisible sphere separates within from without. Like a cell membrane. The circles when over photographs I’ve taken over the years of my family becomes an evocation for protection. These spheres are reminders of the cellular connection between all matter and a symbolic shield of immunity, a sort of geometric spell so nothing penetrates our membranes.

Jennifer Cabral, Membrane - The coronavirus is thought to spread from person-to-person mainly among those who are in close contact with one another within 6 feet. This negative space where no interaction is permitted is here represented as circumferences over a series of family photos. Separated by no travel mandates, I carry the mandated 6ft social distancing as a solace: “even if we were together, we would be apart”. An invisible sphere separates within from without. Like a cell membrane. The circles when over photographs I’ve taken over the years of my family becomes an evocation for protection. These spheres are reminders of the cellular connection between all matter and a symbolic shield of immunity, a sort of geometric spell so nothing penetrates our membranes.

Véronique Kathrina Jonassen, La Fin d’Une Ere - Sometimes, we get lucky enough to live these incredible and stunning and unexpected moments in life that will leave a mark on us forever. These moments always come to an end, as if so much beauty and happiness was an affront to the universe and could not be allowed to survive. But as long as we keep and cherish these memories inside our hearts, they will live with us forever.

Karin Wexler, Blue - in memory of Covid 19, Rust, patina, mix media on canvas, 40x80cm - You don’t see any faces, no people - only masks, masks, masks and they shape our everyday life … you are alone …. you are lonley …. This inspired me during the Lockdown to this artwork. 

Hannah Thomas, Shackled to Matter (Artwork dimensions: 63 x 39 inches, please note this image has been cropped to fit the template) - This work is from a new project, Absurdist Dreams, and it is both a response to lockdown and a natural progression of ideas for me.  Early lockdown paintings were about frustration and confusion, but this work is more layered and a result of focusing on more eternal elements and less on immediate dilemmas and limitations.   Ideas of chaos and emotional complexity permeate all my paintings, infused with theories of Absurdism.  The marks I use all seek to suggest movement and obfuscated elements in the underlying layers.  In this current climate of uncertainty and impatience, my paintings seem to make sense of it all for me, accepting life’s random nature and finding a way to enjoy or at least endure the ‘sturm and drang’ of life.

Ella Luben, Incomplete - The work generates a partly illusionistic space where nothing can fully exist or ever function cohesively. Incomplete structures, accessible through entry and exit points to the painting, a series of instructions, a pretext for painting now. Reflecting how we navigate space and our adaptation to the uncertainty and immediacy of change, the work shows the dismantling of structure as we once knew it. A digital residue is present that reassesses the nature of space - how it can be accessed now more than ever before within a digital and virtual context. Change is imminent. The object is not fixed and none of the lines join, representing uncertainty and the level of anxiety currently present, highlighting our lack of space, structure and stability due to the current situation.

​Liath Murdiff, Macalonely - Beans on toast can make your day. Reading three pages of a book and putting it down is fine. It’s ok to not believe there is anything past your bedroom door. You can watch your favourite Netflix series for the fourth time. Just existing is ok for now

Beatrice Dina - The lake’s scent, Mixed media on cotton 180 x 150 cm - COVID-19 taught me that daily conversations with nature are a universal primal need. Months of isolation became suddenly manageable through daily walks on a quiet lake. As we strolled, I collected with my kids every leaf and flower that grows on the shore. We pressed and organised our organic collection at home, where the different shapes and scents took over my studio, creating a meditative blueprint. Every leaf I drew, kneeling on the unstretched canvas, became a prayer of gratitude to this magnificent earth that wants to breathe with us. It took a pandemic to stop and listen to our inner and outer world, my hope is that now we can all find a way to reconnect with nature, restore its wisdom and heal.

Gali Naveh-Stern, A Walk in the Park - created through Covid-19 reflects a mix of contrasting powers and components associated with this period. The arrogant king representing the virus, the doe like female figure in the center is expressing fragility and fear. The overall surrounding merge patterns of a park like setting representing happiness and freedom with contrasting items including strings, ladders and what may seem as a tied leg reflecting the chaos and constraints. The title - “a Walk in the Park” is also indicative of something that is easy to accomplish and stands in contrast to reality.

Fran Fell - During the lockdowns one of the things I miss most are the performing arts so I’ve created a series of pots illustrating imaginary ballets. This piece is called PAS DE DEUX. It is thrown with terracotta clay, slip painted, glazed and finally lustred.

Biagio Mastroianni, Lockdown Tins - Well-being, freedom, dreams, poetry and pleasure find expression in smiling, serenity and tranquillity on primed tins of beans, chopped tomatoes, lentils, chickpeas, peas, tuna, artichokes and so on. Day by day the paintings and drawings on tins were created and numerated gradually: Day one, day two, week one and so on. One more reason why I created my “Lockdown Tins” was, that the Art shops during Lockdown were closed. I purchased canned food also for prevention during the pandemic Lockdown and it evolved my Art Installation to a social-political value.

Sally de Courcy, Dream or Nightmare? - An autobiographical work of a shielded artist reflecting social isolation during lockdown, by using metaphorical objects that relate to the pandemic. Human femurs reference mortality and are combined with driftwood, both vestigial remains. Driftwood is symbolic of feeling beached (stranded) and like the virus returns in waves. Surreal faces reflect the depersonalisation of isolation, the arms the inability to embrace, and bats the vector of COVID invade the sculpture. Bound by bandages, it alludes to Florence Nightingale and the NHS. Although decorative, it reveals the darker aspects of the pandemic, creating dissonance. The sum becomes a surreal optical puzzle, oscillating between dream and nightmare.

Tom Watson, A symbol of resilience - Over the past year, I’ve created a symbol of durability, strength and resilience. It’s clear that despite what’s thrown our way we manage to keep strong and unite. In the most trying times our roots remained strong. Each seam glimmers with iridescence and a trunk sitting on reflective globes; the globes reveal the reflection of ourselves and our part globally, while the tree reveals its roots and branches grounding and growing. Hanging from one of the branches sits a clear glass sphere that is interactive, much like the shifted perspective we’ve taken on as humankind.

Michelle L Herman, Untitled - I began this piece at the beginning of lockdown in the US when N95 masks were scarce. This mask was one I already had in my studio and used when sanding, etc, so I decided to embed it in resin as I felt the mask object had been transformed into a symbol overnight. 

Penelope Burnett, Af/In/Con FLICT - I created this piece after the first Lockdown March/April 2020. The concept popped into my head one day and I just felt compelled to make it. I’ve always been drawn to barbed wire fences in amongst the countryside. Man-made boundaries against the backdrop of nature. Do they signify protection or danger? Who’s to say which side of the fence is protection and which side is danger? Are they to keep us in or to keep us out? These questions, which have always been in my mind, seemed to parallel and become significant to the questions being raised and the situations arising during this pandemic, Covid-19. The new normal. Protect or deflect.

T Barny, VALKYRE - ‘Norse Maiden Warrior’, VALKYRE is a sculpture in one of my trademark trefoil mobius designs. I carved this piece from a 1,300-pound boulder that had a core channel all the way through it. VALKYRE has the arms attached at places where the lines of the knot cross. This allowed me to create a more delicate sculpture from the block of Italian ‘Volterra” Alabaster.

Jane Hindmarch, Resilience, 300cm x 60cm x 60cm 2020 Plywood, Steel and Matt Black 2.0 paint by Culture Hustle - “Resilience” appears to be a simple, abstract, geometric form but its construction of ascending orbs is also suggestive of the human figure. It represents both our response to lockdown and the danger of Covid 19. The rigid, upright form suggests the perseverance and emotional restraint experienced by the whole human population throughout the restrictions put in place during the pandemic. The repeated orbs suggest the many tough, repetitive days which required patience and endurance to get us through the imposed limitations on our freedom as a response to stop the spread of the Covid 19 virus. The matt black paint signifies the fear, death and suffering which the virus brought to so many elderly, vulnerable and disadvantaged people as well as economic and emotional hardship. 

Janina Myronova, Keep the distance - The idea to create this work came from my feelings which overwhelmed me last year. I went for an Artist in Residency in Denmark and I was lucky that I arrived at the Center one week before borders were closed. Situation was getting worse around the world and we were getting a lot of different information’s about pandemic and it influenced my creative process. I had people around me, but I always listened #keepthedistance from the media. It was not an easy time for me, I created this piece as a response to the new style of life. I showed person who try to hug everyone around, the graphic layer on the sculpture is also talking about close relations between people. The work became a natural reaction to new feelings of longings and our new responsibility help to people to feel safer in that situation.

Jorn van Hoorn, Get ready to Rumble - In “Get ready to Rumble” 2 worlds come together. The world of the cute fairytales and the harsh reality of Covid 19. The childlike playfulness against the isolation. We are forced to fight, we don’t have any choice. In the ICs, in your small room, together with others or alone. Are you fighting for your freedom, or against a virus. How and whoever you fight… Do it in style. Get ready to Rumble.

David L. Rockwell, The Cruelest Month (diptych) - This piece was made in March of 2020 at the start of the pandemic quarantine in New York City, while watching the daily numbers of cases and deaths surge. The arrival of Spring, always symbolic of renewal and hope thus became an ominous harbinger of the year to come. The title is a reference to the opening line of T.S. Eliot’s “The Wasteland”. www.davidrockwell.nyc

Mayu Shiomi - A teddy bear sculpture inspired by the Buddhist quotation “not blank, not hollow, but merely existing”. We certainly exist, in both good and bad times. This work’s title is “Everything comes to those who wait.” PUNK + KUMA = PUNKUMA (KUMA literally means “bear” in Japanese)

Roberta Fulford, Life mask: body sculpture of locally foraged & dried seaweed and silver - This photographic and body sculpture piece was created during Covid lockdown isolation on a small, remote island in the Shetland Islands, when the wild nature around me and the purity of the fresh sea air acted like a renewing life-force, which I absorbed and used to offset the fears and paranoia of the pandemic. I collected the seaweed from the local shore, dried it in the salty winds for weeks and created a face mask, adding silver details to add a fantastical, magical element. The photograph was taken at dawn one morning, when I stood naked before the rising sun and breathed in the morning’s pure air and the seaweed’s essence. Instagram - @robschmob

Sam Haynes, Containing the Uncontainable - This artwork was made during April 2020, at the beginning of lockdown, using materials I had previously collected, having worked as a public artist and arts facilitator for many years. I don’t usually have a theme in mind when creating an assemblage but the circumstances were so mind blowing that it was impossible not to be thinking of Covid. I like to combine contrasting found objects and materials to create a sense of balance and tension, with artworks referencing both domestic and architectural space. The gorgeous sunshine at the beginning of lockdown brought this small cube to life, the feathers reaching out as if rebelling against their confinement, with the seemingly impossible task of containment lying ahead of us all.

Brittany Kurtinecz, cy( )ical - During the Covid-19 pandemic, everyone and everything went Online. It was the excuse society needed to switch completely to a digital existence. We now socially interact in a digital space and are losing touch with physical in teractions. The sense of isolation is physical. Those of us in quarantine can easily fall into the same cycle every day to make it through. Likewise, those of us exiting isolation fall into these same traps, as governments places restrictions on our interactions. Faces now hide behind masks and screens and the connection of touch is dissipating. One could be standing in a sea of people and opt to ‘chat’ to an unseen source. My work depicts this cyclic, digital existence.

Christian Azolan, Blood Moon - Part of ‘The Birds’ art series ‘Blood Moon’ has not yet been released. The artwork represents the first day of the UK lockdown, when humans looked out of their windows and saw the freedom of birds, we quickly came to the realisation that we where stuck inside, our homes suddenly became cages but also a place of safety.

Fariba Safai, Look every which way - During Covid-19 isolation I began to attempt and create one piece of art per day. Due to the fact that my studio was closed down I made the work in my bedroom on my bed. I used oil pens of high grade watercolour paper. I allowed whatever was bothering me about the experience to reveal itself. I have been concerned about the environment and the human impact upon it for a long time and this was the final nail in the coffin of our treatment of our planet. The making of work everyday, allowed me to process and share what so many of us were feeling during this strange and important time of our lives. This experience has  also taught me to be patient and kinder.

Cat Coulter, Did I Have a Hand In This? - The title of this piece is deliberately ambiguous. My work addresses the impact of plastic pollution on the environment. The ‘new normal’ of discarded PPE masks and gloves is adding hugely to the problem. It raises the question of what is acceptable in terms of our own individual behaviour in response to one global crisis, at the expense of exacerbating another in terms of the current threats to our natural environment and climate. Does just one glove in a sea of plastic matter?

Leila Vibert-Stokes, HOPE - Hope is inspired by our tentative exit from lockdown, a botanical explosion bursting into a bright future. Peeking out from the safety of our homes, Hope captures the feeling of optimism around us and the joy at regaining small daily freedoms after a year of tumultuous restriction.

Karina Beeman, Winter Circus Caravan with a Tiger - The theme of a circus caravan, escaping something or maybe just trying to reach its destination, appeared in my paintings a few times during pandemic. Perhaps it is longing for some festivities, travel, a wondrous adventure. A dream that helps to look with hope into the future. A symbol of all worries that I wish will melt away, as long as my caravan is moving. Here I wanted to paint a winter scene. Out of expectations of snow coming that week and worrisome pandemic news, somehow this tiger appeared. Is he a part of that little circus caravan... or is he rushing to get them with sinister intent? I do not know. Instagram @karinabee_art

Daniella Norton, Visiting, 2021, oil on paper, 21 x 21 cms 

Jo Bansall, Thoughts 2020, Oil on canvas, h 76 cm x w 61 cm - My thoughts during COVID-19 in 2020, self portrait with jackdaws, masks and a burning candle.

Fariba Safai - The canvas is my north star. Born in the East, raised in the West, my heritage’s orientations direct my brushstrokes as I record what was, depict what is, and dream of what could be, expressing my longing for a collective reimagining of the world.  Recognizable forms such as flora and fauna representing innocence and her struggle to be seen, cared for, and remain. The battle of patriarchal domination over not just women but also the feminine of the earth itself is at the heart of my inspiration and voice. Through art, I can access the inspiring shifts in social consciousness, resisting domination, and finding the courage to envision a reality where all life could be shared and valued. The figurative abstractions express the power in vulnerability, a refusal to take cover or hide.

Fariba Safai - The last blades of green

Fariba Safai - The remaining ones

Fariba Safai - plucked- [The elephant with the sunflower]

Elsa Egon, Le repos de Justin Bollard (au confinement) - With the Covid 19, I have started to make the portrait of people I love. After twenty years of abstract painting, I have got the necessity of exploring the figurative! I think that this new way may give me a good answer. With these ten months with days while I have been totally alone in my room, I have started to think about my work and how to find the way to bring the exterior to my own interior. To ban the only need to externalize my feelings and go towards others. However, these subjects stay in a situation of colors without references to their context, in isolation.

Claire Thorogood, Marianna - In these interesting times as an artist I have been inspired by all sorts of things. I really notice body language and I have particularly noticed it on zoom which we have all been forced into using in these covid unfriendly times. In one of my virtual tai chi sessions I particularly noticed the beauty of my Italian friend Mariana, who while self isolating with her parents in Italy managed to with her engaging, enquiring, curious  presence, inspire me and lift my spirits.There was no doubt in my mind that I needed to capture her optimistic and uplifting presence on canvas. As a virtual student she offered so much to the class, and I hope I have captured the moment!

Harriet Merry, Harriet “Ruler of the Home” (self portrait during Lockdown #2) - Harriet, derived from the name Heimiric - heim means home and ric means ruler. I do currently rule the home but far too much for my liking and lockdown #2 has been a time of extreme moods. This was created using gouache and coloured pencil on paper.

Rita Hisar, La Dolce Vita - This Painting was created in March 2020, during the beginning of the Pandemic, when everyone was feeling especially helpless against this unknown Beast. As an Italian-Canadian Artist, I watched Italy suffer tremendously in the news and I heard first hand reports from relatives and friends.  It was devastating.  I wanted to remind everyone that even with COVID- Italy was still Italy- with its great Culture, History, Energy, and of course, Art. Our past makes us stronger, sustains us during these unknown times. 

Erick Mota, The Boy In The Pandemic - Inspired by Paul Cézanne’s 1890 version of his “The Boy In The Red Vest,” this piece provides a different perspective on how we experienced life in 2020. Equipped with a face mask, gloves, and an abundance of toilet paper, the boy in the painting is experiencing life in quarantine, focused on uncertainty and ruminating on fear. Cézanne did 4 versions of his “The Boy In The Red Vest” painting (also titled “The Boy In The Red Waistcoat”) using the same Italian boy in each painting, changing the pose in each one. This particular pose is similar to Cézanne’s version that is currently in the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), located in NYC. This is the “remix,” portraying the odd, unpredictable, and uncertain times we are undergoing as a world, while remaining safe under quarantine.

Carol Loeb, Lunch Atop a Skyscraper 2020 - The outbreak of COVID-19, which caused such massive disruption to human society, led Carol to investigate the formerly bustling but now quiet urban landscape closer to home. Her paintings are about living in the city during the pandemic - urban landscapes devoid of people. The places are familiar, the spaces are the same, yet somehow different. “Lunch atop a Skyscraper 2020”, a tongue-in-cheek painting inspired by the original 1932 Charles Clyde Ebbets photograph, creates a balance against the stark reality and stress of living under the pandemic. The original had eleven men eating lunch on a girder high above the city; Carol’s painting has them following stay-at-home orders. The monochromatic blue colour scheme emphasizes the melancholy atmosphere.

David E. Robatin, The next thing I knew, we were inextricable - As we were required to stay at home more, our worlds seemed to get a little smaller every day. It was a time of continuous adjustment, growth and adaptation. One of the unintended benefits was that the closer our space became, the closer we got. Our relationships grew even more entwined as we shared space physically, mentally and emotionally. The figures in this work are painted over a rough, cracked background that has shades of darkness encroaching. The two figures smoothly blend in color and shape, creating an inextricable togetherness they might not have experienced before. The background and the figures change … from light to dark, from green to red … representing our current condition in the pandemic and how we have evolved.

Mónica Casanegra, Reflections - My aim for this landscape painting was to bring light and hope in a time which we find ourselves in isolation during this global pandemic. With this in mind, “Reflections” is a spacious timelessness painting, where I can loose myself  in fascination. Inspired in all the times where I could contemplate in stillness the sea and the sky for hours. The promise of the light ahead, and a changing sky colours, reflected on the gentle waves crushing on the rocks. Memories from moments as I waited for the sun to disappear below the horizon, giving me hope that tomorrow will be another day to observe and remember.

Alison McMahon, Been In So Long It Looks Like Out to Me - This painting is of a dream I had early AM 1st April. I dreamt I was on my first run since being #saferathome. I looked around for my group (Hash House Harriers) and the trail and down at my shoes. I’d been in so long I’d showed up in my step outside/gardening shoes. I decided not to go back for my running shoes but do the trail anyway, and woke up, laughing. I had to paint it because it was such a clear sight, like a snapshot, looking at my feet. It was also a chance to paint a dream from my p.o.v., from inside my head and not observing. Story is written around the sides of the canvas. It’s a simple painting that took a lot of time, looking & figuring. I’m very pleased with it.

Maria Lopes, From Above I - No Man's Land  - Life gives us more than it takes. At first sight, although it may seem odd, Covid-19 confinement has been a journey into connection. A deep connection with myself and nature around me. I’m a middle aged self-taught artist that decided to restart painting last September. For many years that I put aside my art. Life taught me that one can have as many beginnings one wants/needs. Somehow, after months of confinement I found myself looking at things and feelings in a more profound way and painting opened all my senses and helped me to see between the lines of life. Also taught me that there are no boundaries for the human mind if we let ourselves go and navigate through our creativity. During Covid-19 confinement I can truly say that for the first time in many years I felt freedom. Freedom to create.

Maria Lopes, From Above II - Paradise (Watercolor/Ink on indian cotton paper, 76x57cm)

Maria Lopes, Skies I - Skies of Red (oil on canvas, 70x80cm)

Maria Lopes, Skies IV - Skies of Blue (oil on linen canvas, 80x70cm)

Maria Lopes, Skies V - Under the Moon (oil on canvas, 90x90cm)

Icy Burson, HUMAN SUNFLOWERS  - I actually started back drawing the year before COVID-19. It just happens that Covid give me more time to focus on my art work. It slowed everything down and made me take a look at what really important, and for me that happen to be my health. Around the time Covid-19 first surfaced, I was scheduled to have a wisdom tooth pulled. I was very skeptical about the prescription they gave me, so I began researching how to take care of myself. It shocked me how much natural herbs, chlorophyll, and many others made me realize how much we are connected to the earth and it’s natural resources. This made me appreciate nature and how it is here to help us. The Sumflowers were inspired by those on my boss’ desk at work. Upon seeing how tall and strikingly beautiful they were, it made me draw a parallel between plants and humanity, how they both go hand in hand due to the fact that they are both living organisms that require care and nurturing in order to grow.

Icy Burson, HUMAN SUNFLOWERS  - I actually started back drawing the year before COVID-19. It just happens that Covid give me more time to focus on my art work. It slowed everything down and made me take a look at what really important, and for me that happen to be my health. Around the time Covid-19 first surfaced, I was scheduled to have a wisdom tooth pulled. I was very skeptical about the prescription they gave me, so I began researching how to take care of myself. It shocked me how much natural herbs, chlorophyll, and many others made me realize how much we are connected to the earth and it’s natural resources. This made me appreciate nature and how it is here to help us. The Sumflowers were inspired by those on my boss’ desk at work. Upon seeing how tall and strikingly beautiful they were, it made me draw a parallel between plants and humanity, how they both go hand in hand due to the fact that they are both living organisms that require care and nurturing in order to grow.

Icy Burson, HUMAN SUNFLOWERS  - I actually started back drawing the year before COVID-19. It just happens that Covid give me more time to focus on my art work. It slowed everything down and made me take a look at what really important, and for me that happen to be my health. Around the time Covid-19 first surfaced, I was scheduled to have a wisdom tooth pulled. I was very skeptical about the prescription they gave me, so I began researching how to take care of myself. It shocked me how much natural herbs, chlorophyll, and many others made me realize how much we are connected to the earth and it’s natural resources. This made me appreciate nature and how it is here to help us. The Sumflowers were inspired by those on my boss’ desk at work. Upon seeing how tall and strikingly beautiful they were, it made me draw a parallel between plants and humanity, how they both go hand in hand due to the fact that they are both living organisms that require care and nurturing in order to grow.

Giulia Carini, Thinking about You - In these last years I have been travelling around the world for work a lot.  When on March 2020, this constant movement suddenly stopped I felt completely lost. March, April, May were extremely tough months for me because I had to cope with the loss of several relatives and friends, with the fear of getting sick and the impossibility of physically being with my family. I never felt so sad, anxious and depressed as in those moments. So I started to go back to watercolouring and it was a relief and a healing therapy. I was completely focused on creating art and I wasn’t worried about bad news or negative feelings. I was in a good place where I found some kind of peace and tranquility.

Benny Warsh, Watering Hole - The Watering Hole has underlying themes of hope, fragility, conflict and wonder. Early on in the COVID-19 pandemic confusion, fear and the unknown sunk in for all prompting revaluation and overall gratitude. The composition contains elements speaking to fleeting time, absolute stillness, and opposition. The meeting between tiger and elephant at the watering hole is representative of differing opinions regarding courses of action while gathering around what is essential. The movement of colour and flight embodies our desires for interaction fleeting or dripping away while precious stones ground us all in place. Two hearts play in the center of the piece calling for calm while the human condition is marked on the scene with the artists thumbprint.

Catarina Diaz, Joy - 2020 was challenging. Having to adapt to a new frightening reality as the world changed in the blink of an eye was not easy. However, there were blessings the pandemic brought. I learned to slow down, appreciate the value of friends and family, and gained new insight. The isolation provided me with a time of renewed inspiration, the ability to create new vibrant artworks and find my peace.

Sissle Honoré, Isolation - The isolation of an individual from the group. It feels like being stranded on a small rock with no space to maneuver and no chance of reaching out to others. In the distance across the impassable ocean is a building signifying the “the others” (civilization). No humans visible, but presumably within the building. The isolation is brutal in its echo of solitude. The isolation seems insurmountable. The world is sick (greenish), the red of the rocks signifying the virus.

Susan Ridge, NHS Cyanotype Covid Badge - Like many artists I have been making cyanotypes during Lockdown. On my daily walk I noticed discarded masks and gloves (Roadkill). This was one of my first images created with the cyanotype process using masks, rubber gloves and syringes (which create their own corona shape). I developed the images into a badge for the NHS as a response to the Tory Government giving badges instead of PPE equipment to Carers. I have recently made a cyanotype image from a NHS plastic face shield – Armour.

David Nicol, Running on Empty - As a nurse I was sent to work on the covid ward in October 2020. By November I had contracted covid. I was lucky in that I had a mild case, but colleagues and friends did die. I was compelled to create this tribute to our keyworkers and to express and process my experiences through that work. With empty oxygen cylinders and discarded emojis littering the foreground, a keyworker is crucified, held in place by oxygen tubing. Above, a crudely rendered rainbow crowned with a poo emoji showers the keyworker with likes and hearts. The inscription on the cross reads MMXX – MMXXI above and below a key, the wards in the shape of Omega to symbolise every keyworker affected.

Nuala Herron, Quarantine I and II - In these self-portraits, I attempt to visualise my thoughts during Covid-19 Isolation. I was struck by the understandable panic around me and how our world was irrevocably changing. But what concerned me even more than the Pandemic itself, were the decisions that many governments were making while we were distracted by this dangerous virus. 

Faith Chevannes, Captain Sir Tom - Everyone loves Captain Tom. He became a symbol of hope during COVID-19 and the nations hero. We were all scared, but he was so calm and positive he made us feel ok. At the age of 100 he raised an eye watering minimum of £32 million pounds, broke world records and was knighted. I wanted to make a drypoint etching of him because the process creates beautiful velvety burr lines which highlight the beauty of his kind features. I started making portraits for the first time with Sky Arts portrait artist of the week during lockdown one. I began to find my happy place using drypoint etching and won in October 2020 with my portrait of Annie Mac.

Tushar Sabale, Lockdown Gardener - During the Covid-19 Lockdown, many of us discovered the hidden passions and rekindled their hobbies. Some started knitting, some baking while others got into fitness. With my fondness for growing things, lockdown offered me enough time to look after my garden and manage to grow and harvest vegetables and helped us to avoid the long queues to the supermarket. I soon realized I wasn’t the only one who was growing things. The social media was full of posts by people learning to grow and plant something for the first time in their life. I think the gardens throughout the world never looked any better as they did during the lockdown. I decided to document this as another lockdown memory and paint my regular day in the lockdown garden. Seen here in the painting is me mowing the law while my wife having a cup of tea after watering her flowering beds.

Julie Himelein, Race To Paradise - I know the world seems a little gloomy out there now... Let’s look for peace, harmony, and love. May the light shine again upon all of us. A future where we can explore all our beautiful cities and countrysides again. When isolation , sadness and loneliness are but distant memories. Paradise is just around the corner. Acrylic 36” by 36” on gallery wrapped canvas

Takuya Aoyama, Waterfall - コロナウイルスの影響で思うように写真を撮りに行けなくなり、私はケミグラムを用い作品を作ることにしました。

人々の状況に影響されることなく流れ続ける滝に注目し、自然の雄大さを表現した作品です。

私の住んでいる地域は自然が美しく、四季がはっきりしています。 

優雅に流れ落ちる夏の滝、

冬になると、その水は凍り、威厳さえ感じます。

混沌の中で、人々は光を求めます。

自然の雄大さを感じ、勇気をもらうことで私達は困難に立ち向かうことができる。

When I couldn’t go to take pictures because of the coronavirus, I decided to use chemigrams to create my works. These works show the magnificence of nature by paying attention to the waterfall that continues to flow without being influenced by the current situation of people. The area where I live is beautiful in nature, and the four seasons come clearly. A summer waterfall that gracefully flows down, In winter, the water freezes and even feels dignified. In the chaos, people seek light. We will get courage when we see the magnificence of nature. And to be able to confront the difficulties.

Veronica Benedetti, Meteora - Interpersonal liaisons open to confrontation and clashing, allow to face adversity and strengthen the relationship: together they contaminate and evolve. In this process, the chemical reaction of the resistant applied on the photosensitive paper is the result of the emotion that guides the gesture into a visible expression of the latent and thus emerge the chemigrams, the transformation of a feeling into a seeing. The traces of matter refer to the craters, signs that the emotion experienced leaves. Connections that from far attract, up close repels and vice versa. A motion in constant evolution in which, despite everything, we remain stay united. Meteora means meteor, in Italian is composed by tree words that translated are: me, you, now. We are the sky, everything else is an atmospheric phenomenon. Resilience, after all.

Kristin Ducharme, Emergence - I created ‘Emergence’ this past January 2021 in Brooklyn, NY from my kitchen table at home one night. This piece serves as an abstract expression of the isolation and repetition of our days through the year-long quarantine imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The patterns within the piece suggest forward movement, through repetition, ambiguously chasing a moving target seemingly out of the frame. The colors in the background are mildly cheerful and imply the possibility of a hopeful world surrounding our long days, just beyond our reach, but not out of our sight. Or perhaps one can see dancers on a stage, bent forward at the waist, frozen in place, before they begin.  Something beautiful is about to happen.

Instagram @kristin_ducharme_artist

Brian Reinker, Earth Elements 2, 2020 - The continuation of the “Wall Series” was ‘Earth Elements’. Here, still using walls, they are now twisted and spiral out of control creating a vortex of anxiety. A true refection of my personal feelings. To relate to the world or earth, I have used the traditional colours of the 5 elements of water, earth, air, fire and metal.

Krista Kevad, DREAMER’S VIEW FROM THE AIRPLANE - During the covid-19 traveling is not so easy than it used to be. We are missing our families, loved ones and simply traveling to another country. This horrendous time is teaching us to appreciate the moment when we will get on the wings and see the world from the clouds. Yes, you are dreaming, and this is the Dreamer’s view from the airplane.

Ashley Brossart - Created during lockdown in 2020 this is a digitally manipulated piece using my abstract paintings created during lockdown and images I had previously collected. The work is about the idea and feeling of being isolated during lockdown with a mind full of memories and nostalgia of past experiences in a city and environment. I thought of the quarantine isolation as a time of potential transformation as if in a cocoon and waiting to emerge in the future.

Wendy Connelly, Lens - The ‘within’ and ‘without’ of the circle refers to the totality of the psyche. The pandemic became my encompassing sphere of self. The isolation set boundaries, pockets of people without the intimate hum of humanity became pixels on myriad screens. Our spaces and places became redefined and left us distanced, with lives filtered through digital windows. The small and focused paintings are of memories lost. They reformed and became my conversant ménage. Removed from the familiar, a new challenge presented fresh ways to paint, always parallel to the pandemic. I found new tools, digital painting that removed my physical contact with my familiar and filtered my response.

Emma Chow, Renewal - Layers of nearly every medium piled on piece by piece. Why use gold leaf when you can use chocolate bar wrappers that would normally go to waste? Why buy paper when you can use what comes in shoe boxes? Unravelling across the page, these layers -- many, repurposed -- tumble in delicate form, symbolising renewal through repurpose. A journey into the ethereal. In a trance of rest following the first month of lockdown in England, my constant work travels had ceased. I had a schedule for the first time since adolescence. Rested, renewed. Dancing with the divine. Welcoming the sunshine on my face as spring arrived. Overwhelmed with gratitude. Life was somehow in flow. Wreckage, but somehow a pathway to society’s renewal to a new paradigm.

David Wright, C19 - For 35 years a life drawing that I did at university was under my bed. As the Covid pandemic developed and we were put in lockdown I kept being drawn back to the image. An isolated and anonymous woman. A hospital bed. A turbulent sky or sea through a window. An empty visitors stool. No Goodbyes. Cold blue. C19.

Femke Moedt, The groove is you - In this time of Corona, we are challenged to take care of our loved ones, who we want to be safe. At the same time, we realise we have to take action and care for our planet! How can we reduce our footprint? Corona forced us to take some steps in the right direction.

Eleni Damopoulou, future perfect - What it really means to communicate through art during quarantine? What is the  new meaning of freedom? Is the spectrum of our life expectations almost self-restricted from this new “normality”? Can we make long term plans? Can we still dream of the future? These are some of the thoughts I feel the urge to express through my art when I am confronted with the relativity of reality, the inequality and injustice prevailing in the world, now magnified due to the pandemic state. In my work, by organizing words and phrases that emerge on paper open to different alternative interpretations, I invite  the viewer to explore the relativity of meaning and make his/her own In my work, by organizing words and phrases that emerge on paper open to different alternative interpretations, I invite  the viewer to explore the relativity of meaning and make his/her own connections through his/her personal associations  and experiences. 

Josie Woods, Keep Your Options Open - This piece reflects upon my art journey which began in July 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. When the pandemic hit I had booked a three-month solo travel trip, and when it got canceled I turned to art. This mixed-media piece focuses on the endless opportunities that arise when you keep your options open to the universe. In particular, the faces and characters represent all of the people you have yet to meet that will shape your perception of the world.

Ashleigh Sumner, AWAKENING | JUSTICE 4 FLOYD - Pandemics have been responsible for an unimaginable loss of life for centuries. They have also been an unequivocal force for change. Pandemics are an unforgiving reminder of the fragile duality of our existence; with every change something dies and yet, something is born. In Mortem|Renovamen: The Covid Diaries, I explore these concepts in both an individual, emotional contemplation as well as a reflection of the national events inescapable within the Covid-19 pandemic. As I maneuver between the internal and external experience of Covid-19, each painting serves as a visual diary entry. Private contemplations regarding loneliness, grief and hope interchange with reflections of national events involving racial inequity, presidential obscenity, record unemployment, unprecedented effects of climate change, and debilitating uncertainty.

Carol Foulger, Lockdown London - I chose to depict this part of London, as it is usually a notorious hotspot of hustle and bustle and is also a popular tourist haunt. I was intrigued by the absolute eeriness of the scene and wanted to capture the lone bus en route and the array of empty shops. The whole scene, for me looks like the street is almost holding its breath and is awaiting its fate, whatever that may be.

Kate Crumpler, The Grief That Never Was - This piece made out of buff willow, looks like it is falling apart, on the brink of collapse and yet its still standing. The inspiration for this piece was the biblical story of Sarah and her maidservant Hagar. It is about being seen when we are in pain and suffering and how God sees all. During COVID19 being seen in our pain or even acknowledged is hard.

Eve Obrochta, Apartment in the mouth - In responses to the age of anxiety I created a series of pop surreal collages depicting human self through vulnerabilities. Eve Obrochta’s recent work is resonating with a global Pandemic. It’s a comment on a social change, worldwide lockdown caused by the virus. Through forms linked with Dadaism and Pop Surrealism Eve composed a series of collages  which she finalised by the book “Lockdown Collages”. Ideas and themes were realised through juxtaposition and pasting of the images from the discarded magazines, her drawings, photos and digital aesthetics. Her bold style speaks about the level of identification in an isolated society, the time when we confront ourself with our thoughts. It points our attention on the multi-layered global realities and urges us to rethink what we can do to overcome the challenges we are facing. Eve Obrochta is a UK based multimedia artist born in Poland.

Julia Karl, Sculptural Hatching no. 8 - ‘Sculptural Hatching’ is an ongoing series of acrylic paintings investigating the intermediate state between drawing, painting and sculpture. Originated during lockdown 2020 as an attempt at meditation and a calming down technique, the series explores lines and hatching patterns on a sculptural level.

During the turbulent pandemic times, the monotonous act of layering modelling paste with a piping bag converted to an act of healing and reflection. The repetitive movements helped me to dissect everyday experience, as well as my thoughts and feelings, without being overwhelmed. The result is a series of painting with distinct surface and textures often reflecting my subconscious mind. Instagram @by.julia.karl

Caroline McPherson, Social Volcano - Social Volcano is based on the societal impact of the virus. It shows an eruption, a  metaphor for the impact of lockdown, the absence of face-to-face interaction and the  impact on our mental health.

Laura Freschi, Modern VIA DOLOROSA - is an art piece of an immediate chromatic, material and emotional impact. The title leads back to a trail of pain that has a symbolic but perfectly transversal inspiration, traceable to today’s realistic aspects. The author’s intention is to convey the excruciating feeling when in front of a tangible pain, in some ways humanly reparable, but concentrating on the impotence of the sentimental sorrow. The irrepressibility of our heart’s pain, which surpasses the one purely physical, substantially overflows in the existential one, made of despair, distress, solitude and detachment from reality. Today’s emergency, caused by Covid19 pandemic, highlights both aspects: the physical pain that is irrepressible and heartbreaking, due to the isolation from affections, and the anxiety that the existential uncertainty unleashes.

Juan Del Junco, CORONA - My name is Juan Del Junco and I have been living in London since 2017. I made this drawing when the quarentine started. Little we knew about the virus back then, but all you could see on the news were deads and more deads, faceless numbers going up and, of course, the infamous bat that started everything... It felt so unstoppable that, in my head, I could see Death with a crown (“Corona” in spanish) discovering that it wasn’t working alone. With all of this in my head, the drawing made itself. I did it with pen and markers, then I scanned it and finished it digitally. Art has save me during isolation.

Veronica Larrea Chandler, I’m one & I’m all - Just as I was graduating from postpartum depression, 2 years after having my second baby, the Pandemic hit. Panic attacks, anxiety, fear and depression flooded my life once again. Painting was my only medicine. A “kachina” is a deified ancestral spirit in the mythology of the indigenous Pueblo people; Native-Americans from the southwestern USA. In my Kachina art I strive to embody symbolisms of healing, blessings from a higher power, a connection to nature and Mother Earth, and a portrayal of the strength and empowerment of women. I incorporate many of the native symbols of my culture where I was born and raised, Quito-Ecuador.

Sue Trusler, Wednesday Exercise - Lockdown took away human connection in an instant. I belonged to a group of ladies who enjoyed a weekly exercise class followed by conversation over a social coffee. After several weeks of isolation, our class was launched on Zoom. We were reconnected, Wednesdays were ours again. With some support and encouragement, the older ladies learnt how to master the technology and we all greeted each other on screen. Each alone in their kitchen, lounge, spare bedroom or conservatory, we were united with familiar faces, familiar music and our exercises. We had something to look forward to each week.

Olga Goldina Hirsch, Obsession Quarantine Diary, May 2020 - When you are an artist, you are locked up at home and you cannot sleep … mysteries images emerge! Artists are haunted by obsession otherwise they could not create. That’s what I was trying to figure out in these strange days. Artist seems to paint the same subject over and over again. What is the artist tries to say to others? I find myself doing it too. It turns out that quality is determined not by technique, but by meaning. Out of meaningless coloured spots I found young and old age, first flowers of spring symbolic of life-simple, and values eternal. It becomes a real obsession, again and again. I draw pain, anxiety, and longing from the spots of colour until images become clear to all.

Olga Goldina Hirsch, Obsession Quarantine Diary, May 2020 - When you are an artist, you are locked up at home and you cannot sleep … mysteries images emerge! Artists are haunted by obsession otherwise they could not create. That’s what I was trying to figure out in these strange days. Artist seems to paint the same subject over and over again. What is the artist tries to say to others? I find myself doing it too. It turns out that quality is determined not by technique, but by meaning. Out of meaningless coloured spots I found young and old age, first flowers of spring symbolic of life-simple, and values eternal. It becomes a real obsession, again and again. I draw pain, anxiety, and longing from the spots of colour until images become clear to all.

Olga Goldina Hirsch, Obsession Quarantine Diary, May 2020 - When you are an artist, you are locked up at home and you cannot sleep … mysteries images emerge! Artists are haunted by obsession otherwise they could not create. That’s what I was trying to figure out in these strange days. Artist seems to paint the same subject over and over again. What is the artist tries to say to others? I find myself doing it too. It turns out that quality is determined not by technique, but by meaning. Out of meaningless coloured spots I found young and old age, first flowers of spring symbolic of life-simple, and values eternal. It becomes a real obsession, again and again. I draw pain, anxiety, and longing from the spots of colour until images become clear to all.

Olga Goldina Hirsch, Obsession Quarantine Diary, May 2020 - When you are an artist, you are locked up at home and you cannot sleep … mysteries images emerge! Artists are haunted by obsession otherwise they could not create. That’s what I was trying to figure out in these strange days. Artist seems to paint the same subject over and over again. What is the artist tries to say to others? I find myself doing it too. It turns out that quality is determined not by technique, but by meaning. Out of meaningless coloured spots I found young and old age, first flowers of spring symbolic of life-simple, and values eternal. It becomes a real obsession, again and again. I draw pain, anxiety, and longing from the spots of colour until images become clear to all.

Olga Goldina Hirsch, Obsession Quarantine Diary, May 2020 - When you are an artist, you are locked up at home and you cannot sleep … mysteries images emerge! Artists are haunted by obsession otherwise they could not create. That’s what I was trying to figure out in these strange days. Artist seems to paint the same subject over and over again. What is the artist tries to say to others? I find myself doing it too. It turns out that quality is determined not by technique, but by meaning. Out of meaningless coloured spots I found young and old age, first flowers of spring symbolic of life-simple, and values eternal. It becomes a real obsession, again and again. I draw pain, anxiety, and longing from the spots of colour until images become clear to all.

Jeremy Woodard,  “Self-Portrait” - Every year I make a self-portrait in a different style. For 2020, I decided to get back into oil painting and try Rembrandt lighting with my 3M respirator. Originally used to protect me from inhaling particulates at my job, my mask is now used to comply with the mask mandate during the pandemic. This painting was completed during my furlough period in the first weeks of the Covid-19 stay at home order. The frame is also hand made using recycled pine.

Louise Stukenbrock, My 2020 - A reflective self portrait, in both mirror image and thought, looking at how much my life has changed in the last year. My covid uniform is hung up with my usual work apron and tools in full lockdown mode. I see the new me, alone, wearing my now well worn painting apron instead, with my new tools ready to use. A year of transformation and unexpected change.

Patrik Ševčík, New renaissance, 2020 - The picture was created by a combination of digital and analog graphics. It is a response to the current pandemic situation in the world. The name is a transferred reference to the Renaissance, its turnover into history, and the birth of new ideas. It focuses on the humanistic principle (on man and earthly life) and combines the genre of portrait and realism in portraying. The image of a young lady resembles a renaissance portrait. The identity of the person depicted is veiled, dominated by an element of drapery. The period portrait emphasizes the mask, which has become a part and necessary addition to our lives.

Lena Finn, NO SPECTATORS - This is a painting from a photograph of my 7-year-old niece, Emilia, who lives in the U.S. They also went into lockdown in March with all schools and clubs closing. The photograph was taken at a gymnastics meeting in June when the club opened briefly. They went back into lockdown the next day. I was very moved by the image and it made me think of the enormity of Covid and how destructive it has been worldwide for people of all ages. And yet, this one day where she was able to see her friends again, albeit from behind a mask, meant so much to her.

Elizabeth Carey, 2020 Untitled - 2020 Untitled is a reaction to multiple events, experiences, and emotions that during the pandemic thus far. It started as an unstretched canvas that I took out my frustration on. The complete disregard for the health and safety, and inherent selfishness that I have witnessed in my community and in the US as a whole was appalling. I channeled my full spectrum of emotions into the first few layers of this painting, making aggressive strokes, splashing, and rubbing in the paint. Over the months I would come back to it, now and again, with freshly ripened emotion. If only people could view the pandemic with a wider lens.

John Elliott, We are not just numbers - As Covid-19 spread around the world at the start of 2020 and lockdown began we were all isolated in our homes. Every day we would hear a new government announcement detailing the number of deaths and infections, but the numbers were just numbers and didn’t seem to mean anything - they had no human connection. This ongoing project is an attempt to understand and put into context these numbers by making a drawing to represent each victim of Covid-19 in the UK, so far I have drawn almost 78,000 figures. Each figure takes about as long to draw as the time it takes to shake someone’s hand and say ‘Hello’.

Michael Stacey, SHROUDED IN TIME - Entering into the first lockdown last year I spent my time creating time - contemplating the unusual effect of having so much free time on our hands to do what we want. This can both be seen by an individual as a great gift to cherish, or very intimidating. Shading this entire piece with 100’s upon 100’s of tiny numbers I felt both effects!! - www.michaelstacey.art

Pietro Pancotto, Strange Life - The painting, made during the lockdown, wants to represent how our life has suddenly changed, certainties disappeared, the feeling of being the masters of the earth replaced by that feeling of being vulnerable. Pietro Pancotto, was born in Rome on February 16, 1967, where he currently lives. During the lockdown, in March 2020, he began to paint, a sort of catharsis to try to escape forced isolation. Pietro Pancotto transfers images, paintings, photographs into his own world of colors by adding a third dimension, the word: WORDSANDCOLORS. He tries to transfer the practice of years of work in marketing and communication into his own painting, enhancing the emotional experience of the painting through words.

Andy Rowe, Government Guideline Small Painting Series - This series of small paintings were inspired by the Government Covid updates broadcast on television. The three-line phrases that the Government used were attempts to put important messages across to the nation, accompanied with green and yellow colouring to emphasize calm and warmth. I understood the simple messages and felt inspired to make my own guidelines drawn from my personal experiences of being alone at home during lockdown. They reflect some of the personal thoughts and physical actions that I went through at certain times during the lockdown period. The lockdown restrictions forced me to investigate and utilize raw materials such as wood, paint, varnish and found images that were already to hand within my home. www.slatepipe.co.uk

Nadia Goldstein, Mouth Behind Mask - During the last year, I have dutifully worn a mask when I venture outside my home. On my walks, I encounter new neighbors who have never seen me without a mask. In this lighthearted abstract work I integrate found objects. Among other discarded materials—the all too common detritus of our everyday lives—I include plastic, metal scraps and shards of compact discs, and even dried artichoke leaves.

Zelene Jiang Schlosberg, Vent - I cut, paint, stack and position canvases to create hybrid works that dangle precipitously between painting and sculpture, with attention to line and architecture always present. In “Vent,” I highlight in a rather acute fashion some important themes from the Era of Covid: silhouettes of lungs are juxtaposed with a stencilized deconstruction of the word “ventilate.” A general sense of anxiety pervades – the canvases have been harmed, after all, even if an optimistic color palette is trying to maintain a brave face. I hope to create labyrinthine narratives of abstract, figurative and mystical configurations, in a world that is familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.

Carrie Mason, Lost, 2020 – 2021 (ongoing) - This drawing started as a way for me to try and make sense of what was going on last year. I started it when the Prime Minister announced the UK first lockdown in March 2020. I couldn’t sleep, so went out to my studio and started making marks trying to process what was happening. I didn’t expect to still be making the drawing 12 months later, or for those 335 marks to become over 120,000. All throughout the first lockdown I made the drawing every evening after the daily briefing, I would go to the studio, light a candle, and quietly update the marks with the days death toll - one mark for every life lost. It became a ritual, some nights the marks took a few moments, on other days, at the very worst, it would take hours. I soon ran out of candles, but the time spent in quiet remembrance has been constant. On days when people I have known passed, especially with being unable to attend the funeral , it became a way of paying respect. A sense of disbelief has accompanied the process, at times anger, sadness, tears, but mostly a huge sense of loss.

Michelle Sakhai, Garden of Peace - After dark, light always follows. The global pandemic was an uncertain time for humanity. Even in these dark times, nature carried on and flowers bloomed during Spring. This inspired me to create a series of paintings which became “The Garden of Peace,” recently exhibited at Hofstra University. This collection is inspired by our own inner garden of light we each hold within us and explores themes of regrowth and renewal. For more information, visit www.michellesakhai.com or 

Richard May, Altered Peace - This work is a reflection of the very strange, overwhelming period of the first national lockdown. Only allowed outside for a limited time each day, we were inundated with heat, colour, birdsong, silence and separation. From behind ubiquitous rainbows in windows, people stared in amazement at the empty streets as the spring took off. The heat and fear were equally oppressive. The work seeks to capture the sense of it – of something that made little sense at the time. By using the triptych altarpiece format to break up and jar the space and using hot, unrestrained colour and size, hopefully I can remind the viewer of that hot, fractured and strangely restrained tumultuous time.

Dana Martin, Clamorous Silence - During these uncertain times, everyone in the world is united under the same blanket of isolation, forced into a new life of seclusion. I feel as If I am living in complete silence, surrounded by never-ending conversation. It appears that the things I love most about life and the world have been under constant attack. If the deafening silence within my home becomes overwhelming... I can turn to the news, my favourite magazine, perhaps. At that moment, I am surrounded by an unlimited amount of gloomy dialogue. I created Clamorous Silence one morning when I could not articulate the new space I was made to live in. I created a singular sorrowful eye fading into a background of shredded words. SymbalzIing the chatter that we endure daily.  

Andreas Papanastasiu - These drawings belong to a body of work that explores the ideas of chaos and the butterfly effect. Actively seeking to strip myself down from the need to control, I follow my hand which inevitably works bound to chance and human ‘imperfection’. Chance therefore, becomes a tool for me to explore opposing forces in a constant flow of balance. 

Andreas Papanastasiu - These drawings belong to a body of work that explores the ideas of chaos and the butterfly effect. Actively seeking to strip myself down from the need to control, I follow my hand which inevitably works bound to chance and human ‘imperfection’. Chance therefore, becomes a tool for me to explore opposing forces in a constant flow of balance. 

Andreas Papanastasiu - These drawings belong to a body of work that explores the ideas of chaos and the butterfly effect. Actively seeking to strip myself down from the need to control, I follow my hand which inevitably works bound to chance and human ‘imperfection’. Chance therefore, becomes a tool for me to explore opposing forces in a constant flow of balance. 

Andreas Papanastasiu - These drawings belong to a body of work that explores the ideas of chaos and the butterfly effect. Actively seeking to strip myself down from the need to control, I follow my hand which inevitably works bound to chance and human ‘imperfection’. Chance therefore, becomes a tool for me to explore opposing forces in a constant flow of balance. 

Bailey Jean Thomas, Feline Throat Worms - Feline Throat Worms is a 9 x 12 in. mixed media drawing that was inspired by anxiety surrounding COVID as well as my oblivious cat. As a food service worker, every possible COVID symptom in the last year has led to workplace anxiety. This pandemic has taught us to be more mindful of how our small cold could be someone else’s disaster. It has also called into question how far a virus can spread and if it will cross species. Actions that were once innocent if not virtuous, like going into work when you aren’t feeling or taking care of your pets may now be deadly.

Russ Sargeant, ‘CAUTION, THIS THING HAS TEETH’ - Acrylic, oil pastel and conté pencil on MDF panel. 68cm x 68cm. Back in June 2020, during an easing of lockdown, I had every intention of walking into town and visiting a favourite coffee shop run by some lovely friends I haven’t seen in a long while. Driving in to town to park, my anxiety kicked in when I saw how many people were milling around the town centre, so I drove home. As it happens, they didn’t open that day due to there being crowds. I came home and painted this - an outworking of my anxieties during a temporary return to some semblance of normality with the virus still very active.

Domalev, Tableau - Piège Covid-19 lockdown - This work is inspired by Daniel Spoerri. It shows, like in the “snare-pictures”, an image of a daily lunch during covid-19 lockdown. One can see only the remains of the meal, in a tray, like a still life painting. These repetitive moments of solitary meals became very important during the period of confinement. It was also moment of communication with other confined friends or family.

Yeside Linney, Series C3 (Covid Constrained Compositions). No.2: Bacilli - I found the irony of being engaged with the enclosed space I have found myself in has become a source of inspiration. My work reflects the bubbles we create to protect ourselves from the ever-present-mutating virus. Covid19 is the first pandemic which has become publicly symbolised by a graphic of the virus itself. The imagery of the virus enables a personification of the threat: it supports the characterisation of war between the public and the pandemic, which, in turn, supports the mobilisation of our defences. The reality is that over the years this is likely to lead to coronavirus becoming just another of the seasonal virus we experience every year. This is not meant to sound morbid but to paint a picture of the “new normal”, and hence the choice of the bright alizarin crimson based palette. Our social interactions have changed already. Even a simple greeting of “How are you?” carries the subtext: “Are you infectious?” Therefore, there is a tension in the painting, too.

Andrew Youngblom, Hang in There, 2020, oil on canvas. 20”x20” - The novelty of lockdown quickly gave way to frustration and isolation. Time marched forward and an artificially positive attitude became harder to project. With a return to normalcy in sight, “Hang in there” is a defeated mantra we can all gather around.

Shinako Manji, United - COVID-19 made us rethink the importance of family and I was no exception. My husband left for overseas before the pandemic, however my children and I were unable to follow him due to COVID. We are still separated. It has been tough during the pandemic as I don’t have many connections since I am a migrant, further making the move from a house to our unit a hard process. My father, who lives in Japan, was diagnosed with cancer with a few months left of his life. Although I want to see him before he goes, I cannot travel now. All these things made me realize how precious family is. ‘United’ is an image of family supporting each other with love.

Antonia Monson, Pomodori - This is one of a series of loose ink drawings I did in response to Covid 19. I wanted to focus on the fecundity and sensuality of nature as antidote to the stress of this time. With lockdown, the countryside’s exuberance last spring was rich and life affirming. I responded with work rooted in the still life, celebrating fruit, veg, flowers and the reassurance of renewal.

Constanze Buyken, Deep Sea: Medusa - Constanze Buyken, Deep Sea: Medusa (2020).  Acrylic and loose pigments on canvas stretched over cardboard, 70x50cm. Cold, outside the reach of sunlight and under extreme pressure, the deep sea seems hostile to the existence of any animated being. Yet, it is filled with life. Perfectly adapted creatures produce their own sources of light that they shed into the darkness of their surroundings. Invoking  this subject in atmospheric and expressive abstraction, the painting invites to reflect on accepting the unknown, exploring new perspectives, possibilities of adaption and the hope of finding solutions in moments of uncertainty and distress. The painting was created during the summer of 2020 in response to the challenges of covid 19 and in an ephemeral sentiment of relief and hope between rough months of a ravaging pandemic bringing fear, despair, and death.  

Silvia Anan, The Cell - It is a Cell and express the feelings of being isolated not only from the world but also an isolation in self mind too. Pandemic itself with the help of tv media pushed so many people into this kind of loneliness resulting with sad outcomes such as depression, decline in physical health and even suicides. The challenge is to get out of this Cell either man made or nature driven and see the positive changes achieved over the years for self and for others.

shika Guha, Butterfly Roulette - This artwork is all about my hopes and dreams after Covid. I dream for a safer world, a much colourful one- where we can run free again forgetting the shackles of this pandemic that has been threatening us for so long now! I dream of rainbows, I dream of colours filling up our sky all over again ! Let’s paint more, let’s dream even more !

Riley Gunderson, In My Room - This piece of digital art was created while I was isolated in my room due to being exposed to the COVID-19 virus. I only had my four walls and myself to use as artistic inspiration, resulting in this piece. In My Room was created on Adobe Photoshop using self-portraits taken on my iPhone, text and iconography from media I was consuming at the time, digital drawing/painting tools, and various image manipulation techniques. The medium of digital art allowed me to create a nonrepresentational space where I could freely explore my thoughts, feelings, and experiences during the two week isolation.

Sarah Busskamp, Surrender (cropped) - As the coronavirus moved its way across the globe, I decided to take my questions to canvas: Why suffering? How long? What for? How do we deal with grief? Where is God in this? I didn’t receive the answers to my questions, “why?” - but I did receive comfort. No pat answers or silver linings, just the original meaning of com-fort: with-strength. Strength to go on living and to trust, in spite of not understanding. I did not triumph over adversity, but rather surrendered to the inescapable human practice of lamenting. Incomplete forms signify lack of control and the darkness implies melancholy, foreboding and mystery. Yet light floods in, and the imagery of plants speaks life in an uncontrollable world. Not all hope is lost.

Amelia Bisbardis, Quarantine Madness I - According to the dictionary madness means a state of being mentally ill, an extremely foolish behavior or a state of frenzied or chaotic activity. I got inspired by Andy’s  Warhol work and started to photograph many daily objects that have become a luxury accessory or a must have item due to the pandemic. This work makes me question all the positive and negative feelings and habits that we have developed due to the historic moment that we are living. To have or not have this commodities triggers many feelings such as anguish, panic, fear, stress, uncertainty or security, patience, resilience, tolerance, empathy among others. It also makes me be aware of the new habits and routines that we have acquired such as sanitizing everything, washing our hands at all times, using antibacterial, wearing a facemask or the social distance.

Ana Martínez Orizondo - In response to Covid-19 and the lockdown, I worked on self-portraits as a way to reflect and heal the self. Isolation prompted a deep dive into what it means to be human and how vulnerable we are. Alone in my NYC apartment, I staged photo sessions and used the photos as reference for these pastel paintings. As I reflected on my own life, I thought of those who were suffering, the heroes who were saving us and the need for love and mercy. These four pieces, The Faithful, The Healer, The Merciful and The Lover resulted. They are a call to the faithful to unite, for in unity there is strength. A call for the healers to come forth and use their powers to heal the suffering, and the merciful to multiply, and share much needed kindness. The Lover, is a reminder that we are love and love is all there is.

Ana Martínez Orizondo - The Healer

Ana Martínez Orizondo - The Merciful

Ana Martínez Orizondo - The Lover

Veronica Krause - “A primary sunny day” is a call for the better days to come and how I spend the whole lockdown, looking for some light at the end of the tunnel and how I cope with the pandemic while staying at home. It has been a hard period for everyone but I ask myself how that disadvantage can be turned into an advantage? Although being realistic, I didn’t want to focus in the negative side, or in the extra and overwhelming information, it is important how to focus in our mental health and how developing more positive attitudes can help a lot.

Angeliki Boletsi, Self Portrait with skull - My perception of the outside world is always accompanied by feelings. I cannot switch them off even if I really want to. In this self portrait I look serious and melancholic and calm. However behind this predictable representation there is a play of emotions. My artworks are like a diary where I share my inner world and feelings. My paintings are where Fantasy meets with reality. The Skull symbolises the dark side of the soul which is what we are being called upon to explore now with COVID-19. All our hidden, inner, deep fears and suppressed emotions are triggered and shaken. The skull is the gate to the underworld. I try to remain calm and solemn, but inside me there is a vast abyss that awaits for my initiation. In the darkness there is also Light...

Shane Gannon, Before the Flood - This work is one of many self portraits I painted during lockdown. For me lockdown has been a time of self reflection, of looking at myself and asking where I am going in life. I called this painting ‘Before The Flood’ because Covid 19 felt like it was the end of the world, or at least as we know it. It echoed prophecies from religion and folklore. Ive now come to believe that, perhaps the questions I’ve been asking myself are ones for humanity also.

Kohlben Vodden, Orange Ebby - COVID-19 changed our world, made us ill, and even rewired our brains. The uncertainty, caused by isolating lockdowns and no cure, engages our brains threat response which means anxiety reigns and negatively changes our brains. ‘Orange Ebby’ was inspired by Neuroaesthetics – a field of psychology that seeks to understand how the brain perceives, and is rewarded by, beauty. Designed to be an experiment in engineering pleasure to counter the negative psychological effects of COVID-19, Vodden abstracts the human face to geometric shapes and reconstructs it into a beautiful expressionist depiction of the subject. This bold abstractionist portrait is psychologically engineered to stimulate reward pathways in the brain, in turn releasing dopamine a mood enhancing chemical associated with sex and love, – a temporary reprieve from COVID-19.

Sarah Harvey, Lace, Watercolour, 21 x 30cm - Over Lockdown I was unable to access my painting studio where I paint large scale oils of figures under water, some paintings are 20 meters in length. Early in lockdown, I rekindled a previous relationship I had with Watercolour which has been my saviour. Suffering from severe highs and lows through the pandemic like many people, painting has been my daily meditation, and it’s been amazing to concentrate my efforts on a whole new medium. 

In this painting ‘Lace’, you can see the young girl appears to have great sadness in her eyes. She looks past the viewer into the distance. This has been a response to my own feelings during this challenging time.

Ruth Fildes, Apsorbeo - My work is a self-portrait which is multi-layered in the literal sense and in the metaphoric. I had begun to explore this genre of art a little before COVID-19 and the first lock-down struck the UK in March last year, but the power of investigating and experimenting with the idea of self, became even more important and crucial to me over this very difficult period.

The central core of the sculpture responds to the crippling demands on women and girls to conform to a very unrealistic and unhealthy ideal. Engulfing and enveloping the impossible-to-reach figure proportions is a suffocating and debilitating straitjacket-like casing representing the claustrophobia and compulsory constraints inflicted by the virus.

Astrid Hutengs, Healing an evil spell by a magic kiss - As if there was an evil spell over us. I`d like to fall asleep deeply and to sleep for a very long time, awakened by a magic kiss once the spell has gone forever” because this is how COVID-19 feels to me: like an evil spell which has come over the world.

Tiffany Medina Thomas, Noise - With 2020 being the center of so many movements and social justice issues, I wanted to reflect the good and bad we experienced. As the house battled, (the two heads), the streets battled and most united. We learned to stand up in the chaos, remembering those who lost life all during a pandemic. The Noise was loud, but I found more of who I am in it. This piece is my expression on all the social issues, the presidential race, the pandemic and the uncertainty I felt because of the issues we experienced. This pushed me to face problems head on when most of them are not easy to talk about. I wanted this piece to force people to see and notice them as well, a reminder that these things happened. That there is still a fight ahead of us. The noise rang down, and we couldn’t and still cannot escape the changes that are necessary. This piece was in reach studios exhibition “Reflecting Our Virtual Voices” at Redline Contemporary Art.

Dawn Yee, Trippy Temple - In this time of Covid, I was lost. I didn’t know what to do with my time. I had been so busy with working and lackluster relationships, but in quarantine, those things disappeared. I was with myself all the time with nothing to do and that’s where my dormant creativity sprouted after 8 years. I began to create the work I’ve always wanted to, surreal, psychedelic, spiritual. When I create, I find myself and that has been the greatest gift. This piece, titled Trippy Temple, embodies how I feel in this time: away from others yet we are all on the same journey of self discovery, burning brightly in the sea of life.

Neil Whitehead, Dystopian London - A 1.2m large acrylic canvas depicting my vision of a Covid ravaged London. The city I grew up in, the city I craved through 3 lockdowns. A dystopian landscape symbolised by the ever present St.Pauls. A symbol of hope through WW2 and 2020. Covid ripped through the fabric of everybody’s life. Losing loved ones and putting an end to the normality we didn’t realise we craved. My work has always been based around ‘plein air’ sketching and painting - working from the landscape and feeding off the life force around cities and towns. When I couldn’t go outside and paint the architecture around me, I was crippled as an artist .This piece was an isolated creation at home throughout the summer and Autumn of 2020, inspired from the dozens of London city sketches and from the raw emotion of lockdown. Dark and scary but with glimmers of hope emerging, this painting grew from a cityscape into a deconstructed twist of architecture and emotion. 

Quentin Trutti, Contagion - Covid19 has been a vector of isolation. “Contagion” is a surrealist artwork that shows the human being face to the infinity of the world. Perspective is over represented with big table and window, shadows, shelves and the character seems to be very small, alone and static in order to highlight the isolation effect. It seems as a prisoner or a ghost face to the world, as he was in jail waiting for better days. The chiaroscuro, geometric and minimalism shape, perspective and the unfinished character give a sensation of a dream (nightmare). A big time to think about our mankind conditions…

Gerry Niemierowko - In response to the current conditions of the pandemic, it’s noticeable that most of my compositions consist of some sort of interior space. Most of us have had to quarantine to some degree and we have all been spending a lot more time isolated and indoors. My work as of late has explored the intimacy of interior space, which is often over-looked or taken for granted. When someone lets you into there room or personal space they are letting you into their safe haven. A place where you can be yourself free from judgement or expectations. You surround yourself with objects that you relate to on a very personal level. Things that represent you, things you consider important, things you love. I often explore the idea of misunderstanding, how your perception of a situation, however genuine you may be, could possibly be incorrect. I find myself repeating certain symbols that represent these ideas.

Jennifer Jean Okumura, Same - Same but Different series represents our narratives of resilience, healing, solidarity, and freedom. Here there are no mistakes. It is our story - alive, noteworthy, always original not blinded by hunger, poverty, love, and hate. Humanity in every color - Humanity is colorblind. The frailness in emotions, the memories in our heads, the damages left in our hearts from Covid-19 but ultimately Hope ‘for ourselves and others’ - these works capture the beauties of what we call life, all that is love and art.

Jennifer Jean Okumura, Same, same but Different, oil on canvas, 40x40 inches, 2020

Jennifer Jean Okumura, Same, Same but Different, one world, oil on canvas, 48x60 inches, 2021

Jennifer Jean Okumura, Same, Same but Different, Move with Love, oil on canvas  36x48 inches, 2021

Mia Risberg, Inside World #18 - When the quarantine began, it was difficult for me to focus on my studio work so I welcomed the diversion of a new project. I participated in a Call and Response project, at a distance, through Shoe box PR. I was paired up with photographer Jessica Chappe, whom I didn’t know at the time. The process went as follows: one of us created a work, emailed it to the other, who then created a response in turn. We went back and forth for a period of time, and together made 24 works, we titled “Inside World”. It reflects our state of mind during the early period of the quarantine, and the isolation we were experiencing.

Deb Knowlson, Looking Forward, Looking Back - Here is a young woman gazing out to sea on what would otherwise be a fine, sunny day. During Covid-19; however, she might be isolated, experienced job loss, subject to more hardship, and driven to poverty. The informal economy comprising domestic workers and similar work dried up while women shouldered an extreme burden of unpaid caregiving and educating children. While in isolation, I empathized with women all over the world whose lives were interrupted and made difficult by the pandemic. Many of them will not recover easily even when the pandemic is resolved.   

(Painting women during Covid-19 was a change from my normal wildlife conservation art, but the times called for recognition of many hardships.)

Jo Scorah, Covid 2020, 80x55cm framed mixed media - Getting accustomed to a new way of life -the wearing of masks

Petra Schott, Introspection VII, oil and graphite on Handmade paper, 105x70cm, year of creation 2021 - This painting shows a woman in a waiting state, looking down on the floor in a sad mood. The woman is alone, painted in wild brushstrokes as if an inner anger or impatience has formed the rhythms of this painting. The woman sits still, but we can feel the power within her wanting to break free. This painting has been created during a Covid lock down in Germany. This is a time of looking inside and fighting with inner ghosts, a time of backpedaling and surrender -all this I wanted to transmit in this painting.

The Finsbury Park Deltics, Turned Out Mild - Amid all the pronouncements to treat boredom as a positive opportunity to learn something new (WTF?), I got to thinking how some older people might be feeling as they’d been cut off by law from their loved ones, often the only people they ever saw. Naturally I chucked in a medicated haze and a boiling sky for good measure.

Philip Westcott, Prepared - There are many ways people have had to change their lives during the pandemic Covid-19. Social distancing was introduced, and the wearing of masks and protective clothing has become the norm. At first it was the lack of PPE in hospitals that was the problem in England, slowly this was solved and then the public were advised to wear masks, before eventually this became compulsory in shops and busy areas. Unfortunately wearing masks for people with glasses became a problem as the glasses soon steamed up. This could be solved by wearing a face shield as seen in my painting. On another note, shopping habits changed as well in the beginning as there were shortages of some items, this lady is prepared for the worse with a good supply of toilet rolls and a full shopping basket. Fortunately, most shops manged to restock after the first few weeks.

Emma Avedissian, COVID-19: High Risk Population - The COVID-19 era has been a difficult time for everyone. However, while everyone is preoccupied with the fear of being afflicted with the coronavirus (rightly so) and falling under the high risk group, it is easy to forget that there is another high risk population. In this already terrifying time, and particularly with lockdown, there are those in isolation who suffer from mental illness, addiction, disorders, or are simply alone. This short video reiterates the reality of those afflictions being heightened under these circumstances.

Krzysztof Tarnowski - The works are the result of rebellion and a sense of helplessness. At the beginning of 2020, the Polish government introduced measures of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. The restrictions were meant to help overcome the pandemic. However, they were introduced illegally, against the current law and in contradiction with the Polish Constitution. Fighting the pandemic is understandable, yet I object to the authoritarian character of the anti-COVID regulations.

Marcelle Mansour, A Haunted Cell of Isolation - COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing global crisis while people battle the outbreak. Inspired by Greek Philosophy, humanity and spirituality as a vehicle for knowledge and wisdom, my artworks highlight the theme of universal human responses in isolation. Restrictions have impacted people staying in lockdown, quarantine or imprisoned in home with loneliness, anxiety, and depression. At this strange time where the unusual become a Norm; self-isolate, social distance, hand glove and wearing mask becomes mandatory in public areas to prevent onward transmission. My work reflects my soul as a universal woman in process of introspection with a purpose to find hope in transition while facing challenges. Creating positive norm thought of resilience, thankfulness, gratitude and optimism through art is vital to help in this psychological upheaval.

Marcelle Mansour, Digital Painting, Social Distancing in the Street, 2020

Marcelle Mansour, Like Lotus and Bamboo Resilient, Digital Painting, 2020

Marcelle Mansour, Digital Painting, COVID- 19 Lockdown Imprisonment Feeling 2020

Marcelle Mansour, Digital Painting, “To You, O LORD, I Lift Up My Soul”, 2020

Marcelle Mansour, Digital Painting, Stay Sane during Quarantine, 2020

Sophie Lloyd, is it hot in here? - I’m interested in the collective trauma and social anxieties that the pandemic has induced, through distancing and claustrophobia. Physical contact becomes almost life and death situation and yet, the figures in my piece, so desire it. The fearfulness of one another fills the space in between them. Bodies adapted to living in isolation are thrusted into a social encounter causing sore ears that portray a sensitivity in how they receive the external as it tangles with their internal worlds. 

The figures revel in their insecurities through humorous exaggerations of anxious bodies. My figures share a commonality in exploration of identity, dipping their toes into queerness and gender displays, as they tightrope between revealing and concealing themselves.

Margherita Chimenti, The quest for identity - This artwork explores the evolving concept of femininity - in all its forms - and the process of growing as a woman in today’s society. Often the noise that surrounds us challenges the ability to focus on our true self. Isolation has enabled me to embrace my deepest instincts and see a world with my eyes shut. This work is about the constant fight between our deepest instincts and the constrictions of our minds. You can see things from many angles, you just have to choose the right one for you. Discover more - Instagram @maggiemeant

Kuda Mushangi, Simply Existing - We are going through a global pandemic. Not like anyone needs a reminder, but it is important to emphasise the surrealness of our current situation as a society. Normality as we once knew it does not exist anymore - and that is fine.  With the perpetual pressures to live as we once did seemingly applied from all areas of our lives, this painting portrays something we all need; a moment to just be still and to allow our internal world to freeze. Even if we are doing nothing, we are doing a great job. Simply existing during these current times is more than enough.

Diego Lozano, Aerobics cube - I believe this work of mine reflects the solitude that many of us have felt during this pandemic. We’ve had no choice but to find new interests and talents that we never knew we had. I also think we’re appreciating our homes and privacy more than ever. That’s the message I’m trying to portray in this painting, the freedom and comfort of your own company.

Gerard Sternik - The 2020 pandemic forced me to abandon all of the larger projects I was working on, and to find a smaller, more compact way to continue working. I turned to digital composite photography, an approach I had started experimenting with in 2015 as a solution to this challenge….a camera, laptop and a room, were all I needed to continue the process of art making. I found that the pandemic triggered an enormous range of new psychic and emotional responses, and an array of new and surprising approaches to making work, both thematically and technically. The loneliness that I experienced throughout long periods of isolation during the pandemic had a flip side - time and solitude are the artists most essential creative ingredients.

Gerard Sternik - The 2020 pandemic forced me to abandon all of the larger projects I was working on, and to find a smaller, more compact way to continue working. I turned to digital composite photography, an approach I had started experimenting with in 2015 as a solution to this challenge….a camera, laptop and a room, were all I needed to continue the process of art making. I found that the pandemic triggered an enormous range of new psychic and emotional responses, and an array of new and surprising approaches to making work, both thematically and technically. The loneliness that I experienced throughout long periods of isolation during the pandemic had a flip side - time and solitude are the artists most essential creative ingredients.

Carmen Lindahl, Keys - My work is one in a series that depicts multiples of an old chest key. In a period of cur few and lock downs we are all isolated and bereaved of social contacts. Keys serve as a symbol for our way out to the normalization of life we all long for. One day we will turn the keys to our doors and step out into a landscape that will be familiar but also that will have changed. Today we are not really sure how much of change there will be. With my keys I give the onlooker an incentive to reflect over this. Keys are also traditionally good luck symbols. When three are worn together, they unlock the doors of love, health, and wealth. That is what we hope for once outside.

Fotini Pappa - The source of inspiration for the works “Sad Spring 2020 - covid 19” and “KARANTINA-covid19” is locked in the spring. The works “I Am Sorry - Summer 2020 - covid19” and “the scream” were created afterwards. They were created by the thirst of the soul. Cause the empty hug, the lack of a smile, the tender touch, the incredible emptiness of the soul, the longing to see my children and grandchildren. An invisible veil covered everything. And all of us trapped, we beg to stop, to quench the thirst of our dehydrated soul.

Fotini Pappa - The source of inspiration for the works “Sad Spring 2020 - covid 19” and “KARANTINA-covid19” is locked in the spring. The works “I Am Sorry - Summer 2020 - covid19” and “the scream” were created afterwards. They were created by the thirst of the soul. Cause the empty hug, the lack of a smile, the tender touch, the incredible emptiness of the soul, the longing to see my children and grandchildren. An invisible veil covered everything. And all of us trapped, we beg to stop, to quench the thirst of our dehydrated soul.

Fotini Pappa - The source of inspiration for the works “Sad Spring 2020 - covid 19” and “KARANTINA-covid19” is locked in the spring. The works “I Am Sorry - Summer 2020 - covid19” and “the scream” were created afterwards. They were created by the thirst of the soul. Cause the empty hug, the lack of a smile, the tender touch, the incredible emptiness of the soul, the longing to see my children and grandchildren. An invisible veil covered everything. And all of us trapped, we beg to stop, to quench the thirst of our dehydrated soul.

Fotini Pappa - The source of inspiration for the works “Sad Spring 2020 - covid 19” and “KARANTINA-covid19” is locked in the spring. The works “I Am Sorry - Summer 2020 - covid19” and “the scream” were created afterwards. They were created by the thirst of the soul. Cause the empty hug, the lack of a smile, the tender touch, the incredible emptiness of the soul, the longing to see my children and grandchildren. An invisible veil covered everything. And all of us trapped, we beg to stop, to quench the thirst of our dehydrated soul.

Alyssa Doggett, Chenpapa -  A scene of socially distanced customers wearing masks lined up to order food from local vendor Chenpapa. I was inspired to paint this scene as it is relevant to our current mask wearing and socially distanced culture during the Covid-19 pandemic. This piece was free hand painted with gouache and underpainted with lemon yellow watercolor to brighten an otherwise dreary scene.

Pascie, Bordering Nations - Painting 60 x 90cm, acrylic on canvas, August 2020. Borders are ambiguous at most, but they can make all the difference in terms of opportunity, freedom, and quality of living for an individual. During COVID-19 times it became explicit how our daily lives are affected, depending on which side of the border one lives, with laws and rules changing from one week to the other. This is metaphorical for the interpersonal, cultural, and social borders we tend to create. What is true for all borders is that those living near them struggle the most. Nevertheless, there is plenty of color to be found within the darkness of isolation, both near the border and farther away.

Rene Agostinho, Heroes of mankind, express to heaven - His work was designed in honor of the thousands of health professionals who died anonymously on the front line to fight the covid-19, anonymous combatants who did not have a funeral ceremony with honors and who will not return to their children, wives, and husbands. “I’m in mourning for each of them and I hope that, if there is a heaven, they took an expressway.”

Francesca Gillett, Ice Blue Ocean - Covid 19 hit the country before I could even graduate from university. Once home and with the job market looking bleak, I was still keen to keep my creative side going. I took to the garden shed to create new designs in different mediums. Throughout the summer of 2020, I used Alcohol inks to produce a range of designs, using various techniques and continued this into the festive season, adding silver and gold to bring some sparkle. Being an abstract designer, I love the bright colours and textures alcohol inks create. I took my designs forward by producing cards and coasters to sell in my local area. Continuing to be creative during lockdown, has helped my mental health and kept my passion for textiles alive.

Lucia Pinzani, Quarantined Duende - In Catalonia the quarantine lasted ten weeks. Due to the impossibility of leaving the house to collect new materials, I  worked continuously on the same canvas. Through collage and acrylic painting, the canvas became a scene in  constant transformation. The result was an exploration of colorful visual  changes; an inner journey that allowed me to keep track of my mental state  during the quarantine. 

The action of painting brought me to reflect on the role of creativity in human  health, and the possibility of using creative power as a tool to cope with  uncertainty and to become more aware. By being creative we can rewrite our reality, and start to observe the world  from a new point of view.

Charoula Nikolaidou, Balcony View - Staying at home and keeping away from others, due to the pandemic, changed daily life as we knew it. During this second lockdown my balcony view has become a transcendental connection to nature. The urban frenzy has disappeared and my little balcony garden is still the greatest form of escapism, enabling me to reduce stress and improve mental health. Finding inspiration in my own encounters with other people and moving on a purely experiential axis, I feel that this painting incorporates vibrant colours of both figures and space, capturing at the same time movement and emotional forces such as tenderness, love and fragility during those never-ending hours at home.

Ann-Marie LeQuesne, mom and me and the sea - My mother had Spanish influenza as a baby. Later in life she developed Parkinson’s disease and died young. I have interspersed her early photographs with my later ones, animated by a recent boat trip on the Oslo Fjord - a communication over time in the midst of another pandemic. Since lockdown I have worked at one remove - finding and filming narratives at a distance. For this video the “one remove” was time - printing my mother’s early negatives, seeing her world before I was born, and finding evidence of our shared love of water. 

(This video was commissioned by Art Walk Porty www.artwalkporty.co.uk  and shown in “All at Sea” a one-night screening, projected  onto a building in Portobello, Edinburgh.) mom and me and the sea  https://vimeo.com/459857143

Mia Risberg, Inside World #4 - When the quarantine began, it was difficult for me to focus on my studio work so I  welcomed the diversion of a new project. I participated in a Call and Response project, at a distance, through Shoe box  PR. I was paired up with photographer Jessica Chappe, whom I didn’t know at the time. The process went as follows: one  of us created a work, emailed it to the other, who then created a response in turn. We went back and forth for a period  of time, and together made 24 works, we titled “Inside World”. It reflects our state of mind during the early period of the  quarantine, and the isolation we were experiencing. 

Sara Netherway, CHILDREN - The piece is about children during lockdown in England. The mother looks out to the  viewer asking them to judge her as she feels tired and exasperated with the situation. She turns her back on her children  who either look after themselves or act out unsupervised behind her. 

Philip Westcott, Resting Trafford Centre - One aspect of the pandemic Covid-19 has been the restrictions placed on  people in England. During various times shops have been opened but strict rules have been in place where masks must be  worn, sanitation areas and strict control of numbers enforced. At other times, many shops not selling essential items have  been closed completely and people were only allowed out for limited times. These restrictions were to stop the spread of  the virus and to relieve the pressure on hospitals. Fortunately, at last these measures seem to be working. My painting  shows a couple of gentlemen relaxing during a shopping trip when it was allowed.

Takuya Aoyama, Waterfall - コロナウイルスの影響で思うように写真を撮りに行けなくなり、私はケミグラムを用い作品を作ることにしました。

人々の状況に影響されることなく流れ続ける滝に注目し、自然の雄大さを表現した作品です。

私の住んでいる地域は自然が美しく、四季がはっきりしています。 

優雅に流れ落ちる夏の滝、

冬になると、その水は凍り、威厳さえ感じます。

混沌の中で、人々は光を求めます。

自然の雄大さを感じ、勇気をもらうことで私達は困難に立ち向かうことができる。

When I couldn’t go to take pictures because of the coronavirus, I decided to use chemigrams to create my works. These works show the magnificence of nature by paying attention to the waterfall that continues to flow without being influenced by the current situation of people. The area where I live is beautiful in nature, and the four seasons come clearly. A summer waterfall that gracefully flows down, In winter, the water freezes and even feels dignified. In the chaos, people seek light. We will get courage when we see the magnificence of nature. And to be able to confront the difficulties.

Brian Reinker, Wall Series 1/6 2020 - I started the ‘Wall Series’ in May of last year as a response to the social and  physical barriers that the lockdown created for me, family and friends. Using walls as a metaphor for the feelings of being  traped with nowhere to go, closed doors but yet being able to see over the horizon. 

Gali Naveh-Stern, The Runner - created through Covid-19 reflects the urge to move forward amid all those constraints  

that hinder us. The painting depicts a runner in movement in a chaotic though colorful surrounding where the viewer may notice rope like shapes, a captured person and figures that may be associated with body parts. 

Caroline McPherson, Hope - Hope is a representation of the COVID graphs highlighting its peak and decline during the  pandemic. It uses the colours of spring to suggest hopefulness, and that as we head into summer, that we might start to  get a part of our lives back again. 

Nadia Goldstein, Their Loungewear and Masks - Set of 2 - Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, many of us have been largely housebound for more than a year. We spend our days clothed in leisurewear - and often find our countertops  littered with face masks. In this somewhat lighthearted work, I seek to capture a slice of our peculiar new reality which  sometimes seems jumbled and fractured. My abstract, mixed-media works rely heavily on found objects, including string, discarded plastic, shards of compact discs, and assorted metallic materials. 

T Barny, HEART LUMINARY - Italian Alabaster, I created a number of the HEART LUMINARY sculptures. It’s a  simple and functional design, but one that allows a collector to show their love for another. Something that at times  seemed to be lacking in people’s interactions with each other.  

Femke Moedt, Boogieland - Boogieland (Kickboxclub in Amsterdam), placed boxingbags on various spots in the city,  when all sportcenters closed, due to Covid-19. They were hanging on street/traffic lights and the street was marked with a  one person square for safety reasons. People loved them! Unfortunately, they were not allowed and the bags disappeared.  What was left, were traces in the empty streets. Traces of both love and fear. 

Benny Warsh, Shattered - This abstract piece contains a personal narrative of living with, then overcoming pain, shame,  and self-doubt. The overarching themes of this piece are gratitude, fortitude, and personal redemption. People around the  world are working individually and collectively, moving through adversity and rising above uncharted waters. This painting  is a reflection of the struggle to look for the brightness & stay positive.  

The lighter tones radiating outwards from the center are feelings of strength, courage, and mental fortitude overtaking  the noise of worry, fear and uncer- tainty. The concentration of these tones in the center is reflective of the daily internal  battle the individual has dealing with these complicated emo- tions. No matter how strong the emotional foundation is  there will always be resistance impeding. 

Clara Lemos, Eyewitness - Despite being an art lover for as long as I can remember, it was not until the beginning of 2021  that I decided to create my own art. In the middle of a global pandemic and going through a period of maternity leave,  I felt that I needed to open up a new chapter in my life. I felt an immense need to cope with all the outside stress and  anxiety and find a place of my own. My artworks are my response to the COVID-19 pandemic and my very personal way  of finding meaning in isolation. 

Krzysztof Tarnowski - The works are the result of rebellion and a sense of helplessness. At the beginning of 2020, the  Polish government introduced measures of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. The restrictions were meant to help  overcome the pandemic. However, they were introduced illegally, against the current law and in contradiction with the  Polish Constitution. Fighting the pandemic is understandable, yet I object to the authoritarian character of the anti COVID regulations. 

Mikee Huber, CORONA In May: See the Spread - May 19th, 2020 marked the tenth week I worked from home due to  the spread of the COVID-19 virus. I felt stressed and alone at times, even with my husband working from home. I was on  edge, so I turned to painting my emotions. I choose an edgy color palette of orange, yellow, and green, not the calming  colors I usually turn to. There is one single armchair askew in the room on the edge of the yellow unknown. The yellow, is  outside of the house with a greater risk of infection. The orange, represents the safety of working from home. The tonal  stripes are more noticeable in the yellow yet they are also in the orange, showing how the virus can spread unknowingly. 

Rene Agostinho, Enough, can’t stand it no more - The old woman with long white hair smashing the mirror with his own  head, trapped in her cloister, and completely hopeless represents the pain of social isolation, the remoteness of life and  those we love. It is a silent pain, which slowly corrodes the soul, in a deaf and treacherous way. Our elderly people are  lonely and watching the little time ahead fade into quarantine ... 

Cat Coulter, The Sanitation of Adam (Pristine Chapel) - This image shamelessly appropriates Michelangelo’s  masterpiece in the form of waste plastic and PPE. The iconic image was chosen because it represents the creation of  all humanity and we are all now inextricably involved in this global pandemic. Cast into the isolation of the new normal,  the familiar hands reach out but are now forbidden to touch each other. The impulse to connect must be resisted.  Gloves must be worn to prevent physical contact. Their gestures are literally and metaphorically empty. This work is a  representation of the all-pervading sense of social isolation experienced during national lockdowns, where everyone –  friends and strangers alike - must be kept at arms’ length.

Biagio Mastroianni, Chaos in the City - I was inspired by the riots and demonstrations in many cities in the world by  governments decreed of Lockdowns and restrictions. Painting, Oil on paper, 60 x 84 cm, 2021

Anne-Marie Ellis, Dissolving 2020 60x50cm acrylic on canvas - Glass is something I love to paint, usually whisky glasses  or perfume bottles, but in lockdown I found myself often staring at a glass of water, waiting for a tablet to dissolve & get  rid of yet another headache…In this stark, dramatic painting my aim was not only to capture the metamorphosis of a  dissolving tablet but to reflect the state of mind we were all in, needing a panacea to rid us of this pandemic year. The  multitude of subtle reflective colours in the glass, and the repetition of the fizzing tablet in the facets have a haunting  beauty. The tablet has the numbers ‘2020’ on it, a quiet reference to a year that will be remembered in global history. 

Caroline McPherson, Division - This painting represents the social and psychological divisions caused during the  pandemic. Visually, it is divided into two, between the sky and the sea, to represent the divisions felt in our relationships,  around scientific information, and the divisive nature of social media and disinformation. 

Gali Naveh-Stern, Hide and Seek - created through Covid 19, reflects the basic human instinct to “hide away” from life  risking threats and avoid the deadly virus which on the other hand tries to find, capture and infect as many persons as  possible. The figures seem to be engaged in what seem to be a hide and seek play, their expressions may seem fearful and  they are definitely not enjoying the game. Crown like shape is a hint for the Corona virus.

AJ Illustration, Charlotte - The portrait is of Charlotte, who was nominated by Laura as part of my NHS Portrait Series,  with the portrait taking over 200 hours. Charlotte is a critical care ODP working at Northampton General Hospital. 

Bailey Jean Thomas, Unsettled - Unsettled is a 9 x 12 in.mixed media drawing. Unsettled is about isolation and the feeling  of uncertainty that comes with spending too much time with one’s self. Without the company of others, your mind and  sense of identity is left dangling like a hazardously installed ceiling fan and the dust that accumulates on it. With too much  time to yourself, you may start thinking about how the dust that is now floating through the air was once part of your  body. You may think about how the air between us is constantly filled with tiny pieces of ourselves, pieces that could cause  harm or sickness to others.  

AJ Illustration, David - This A4 portrait was drawn using a 0.05 fineliner in a pointillism style, taking over 50 hours to  complete. The portrait is of David, who was nominated by a friend and colleague for being one of the most hardworking  registrars. David is a Respiratory and Intensive Care registrar in London. 

The Finsbury Park Deltics, Bastard - This was created in February 2021 after the roadmap to ease lockdown was finally  announced. Personally, I found Lockdown 2.0 (or was it 3.0?) much harder to deal with. Decreased daylight, decreased  contact and a daily deluge of bad news. So when the route out was proclaimed, I felt able to treat the whole sorry mess  

with a bit of juvenile humour again – the caption on my Insta post relating to this read: “Enjoy it while you can, you little  green bastard”.

Daniel Marin, You Wish - The underlying impact of COVID 19 for me was the inability to access new locales offering new stimulation both visual and physical. In addition to the disconnection felt from having to sever normal engagement with other people, the inherent wanderlust within me was left with no way to be satisfied. This piece was born of the expression of wanting to seek out a new destination to make a further connection with this world, and the visual and composition of this piece depicts something of a tattered postcard which is as close as you could come to anywhere during this difficult time.

Mel Elston-Mendones, © The whole of the moon - I painted this after my reaction to news that my elderly mother had contracted Covid 19 and that she was in the Intensive Care Unit. I live far from her and she was on her own. She contracted it in late March 2020, at a time where little information was known about it. We were told to stay in and not to go out. I could only imagine what she was going through. I felt hopeless and helpless, and I needed to let my feelings out. This is one of the paintings, that I painted to release my pain and anguish.

Paulina Saavedra Zeballos, Understanding That Which is Permanent - My artistic practice experiences spaces that try to generate in the receiver a reflection that allows him to question his reality, thus seeking to approximate the questions about who we are and what constructions we establish through our discourses. From there, the Persōna Project is installed, which aims to be a bridge between the origin of the word and its current implications, thus trying to open spaces for thought and reflection through dialogue between the little people who inhabit the blank page and the titles with their descriptions. “Understanding That Which is Permanent” is understanding that the state of certain situations that appear to extend in time, in particular when referring to crises or endings, are not but the starting point of something that exists on an improved plane.

Sheila Romard, Tethered - This painting depicts my reflections on our collective despair, in particular people trapped in abusive relationships during this time of isolation due to Covid. We’re fragile, tethered to a world which at times seems to be crumbling around us. Will we emerge from isolation stronger, more resilient or weakened? With this painting, I also share my hopes and prayers that we will be made stronger, and freer.

Emily Gold, Drive Through - During the COVID-19 pandemic, New York City as most of us knew it had changed completely. While walking around Times Square I noticed how it had become somewhat of a ghost town, versus what we usually associated the heart of Times Square with. Signs that would usually be advertising different brands were now lit with thank yous to our local heroes, and warnings to stay home when you are not feeling well. I wanted to document a new world that we, as New Yorkers, were experiencing and how that would affect us in the future. Each image describes how COVID affected New York City.

Anne-Marie Ellis, NHS BLUE 1948, 50x76cm acrylic on canvas - The distinctive blue of our national health heroes is used here to celebrate the work of the NHS. The artwork was made in the midst of the first lockdown, and the clapping gloved hands depict the nation’s weekly applause for the NHS.  Like most people, I felt I would like to use my skills to help.  I was already doing a series of artworks on iconic colours in the format of ‘paint chips’, and the fact that the blue of the NHS has now become the most recognisable element of their branding, made this fit.  The NHS was established in July 1948, hence the year chosen as the paint ‘code’. The sale of the original and digital download raised over £1200 for NHS Charities Together.

Illicit, Blue Angel - The inspiration for this design started whilst researching the coronavirus structure, which is known for the crown like spikes on the surface. It became apparent to me that there were visual similarities to a religious halo. The halo, also called a nimbus, is a radiant circle or disk surrounding the head of a holy person, and is a representation of spiritual character through the symbolism of light. I felt a halo was appropriate because the NHS staff were a symbol of light amongst so much fear. Whilst watching the daily briefings I noticed the government campaign graphics on the lecterns. I incorporated the chevrons which are taken from the reflective patterns on an ambulance, and worked in NHS blue as I felt it spoke visually of the moment. Instagram - @illicitgallery