When two months ago, at the time that museums, galleries and exhibitions

around the world were closing down due to the Coronavirus pandemic,

we launched a Call for Art for an online exhibition,

we did not expect the amazing response that occurred.

 

It was a sign of artistic vitality, energy, and especially a sign of desires

to express, to make, to communicate and stay in touch.

 We especially did not expect responses from the four corners of the globe!

 

Most striking was to see that in spite of the obvious different situations and circumstances,

artists in places culturally and geographically distant

were giving voice to very similar experiences,

to similar fears, longing, sense of isolation as well as similar resilience and hope.

In times of deep global crises, human emotions transcend differences.

 

We are very excited to present here a selection

from the hundreds of works that responded to the Call.  Enjoy the show!

Raka Panda

 

Midnapore, West Bengal, India

Around the Sky
Mixed media on canvas
More info
I express my intangible feelings, narrating tales of common people, as I pursue daily life through tangible things. I want to touch some empathetic colors. Perhaps this process can keep us tied together, whether we are near or not.  So, the sky is eternal happiness and also an intangible roof. Maybe the purpose of all activities is for that happiness, whenever we are 'Around the sky’.
Under the Sky
Mixed media on canvas
More info
I express my intangible feelings, narrating tales of common people, as I pursue daily life through tangible things. I want to touch some empathetic colors. Perhaps this process can keep us tied together, whether we are near or not.  So, the sky is eternal happiness and also an intangible roof. Maybe the purpose of all activities is for that happiness, whenever we are 'Under the sky’.
Under the Sky (Detail)
Mixed media on canvas

Ádám Dóra

 

Budapest, Hungary

Framed Sky
Oil on canvas
More info
During the Covid19 pandemic all of us can realize how it feels to be locked into quarantine. We feel nature inside from our box while asking for fresh air. This work is from a series examining the relationship between architectural and natural structures. The geometrically constructed environments create a strong contrast with the proliferation of organic elements.

Alena Halavina

 

Minsk, Belarus

Color/Black&White #2
Edited photograph
More info
This work represents my view on life during quarantine, at home in lockdown and outside where nature is at its best blooming and flourishing. It contrasts the time we have now with the ‘normal’ time that we used to have. This has been a psychologically difficult time for me. It is as if we are in a waiting mode.
Color/Black&White #1
Edited photograph
More info
This work represents my view on life during quarantine, at home in lockdown and outside where nature is at its best blooming and flourishing. It contrasts the time we have now with the ‘normal’ time that we used to have. This has been a psychologically difficult time for me. It is as if we are in a waiting mode.

Oisín Tozer

 

Dublin, Ireland

Light Pollution, Migration
Oil on canvas
More info
These works reference the effect light pollution has on birds. Light pollution disrupts their migratory patterns and causes birds to migrate at the wrong time of year. Like many environmental issues, this one isn't obviously apparent in our day to day lives.  I see the effect this has on birds as a distant, quiet call for environmental action.
Light Pollution, Migration II
Oil on canvas
More info
These works reference the effect light pollution has on birds. Light pollution disrupts their migratory patterns and causes birds to migrate at the wrong time of year. Like many environmental issues, this one isn't obviously apparent in our day to day lives. I see the effect this has on birds as a distant, quiet call for environmental action.

Jenna Ringuette

 

Berkeley, California, USA

City Streets at Night
Charcoal on paper
More info
A quiet cityscape on a cloudy night. The cloudy sky and harsh lights show the anxiety that is oftentimes experienced when the city becomes quiet. This anxiety has become a part of everyday life during COVID-19. However, just as beauty can be found on quiet dark nights, there is beauty within these times as we await the end of this terrible pandemic.

Andrea Saavedra Sánchez

 

San Luis Potosí, Mexico

El mismo cielo (The Same Sky)
Photograph
More info
Today the stars appear again; what the earth has cried out to us finally happens. The waters crystallize and the air smells different. Smells of change. A change that asks us first to learn to live with ourselves, to move away a little to realize much. We live under the same sky, but each head is a world. Let that world remind us of what it is to be free and human.

Adikinyi Otsomo Kondo

 

Nairobi, Kenya

Calling Across the Distance III
Digital collage
More info
At the beginning, COVID-19 seemed that it would let up, but a few weeks down the line hope is dwindling in the air. Many people turn to various answers. I remain in the ether questioning how many times we will see the end of the world. Yet...somehow there is hope.

Xingweiai Fang

 

Changchun, China

The Convenience Store in the City Park
Acrylic on canvas
More info
This February, only the local convenience store remained open, while all the large retailers closed under the lockdown. Rendered in an experimental way, I applied a layer of one-directional scratched gesso to generate a vibrant-touching texture. Right next to the convenience store, three people’s silhouettes stare at the vending machine. With subtle light, this painting captures the scene and conveys the longing for normal life out of the dark period. 
The Convenience Store in the City Park
Acrylic on canvas
More info
Rendered in the conventional way, I painted the subjects without loss of detail, seizing the color generated by the lights of the store. The Illumination, with subtle lighting on the three standers’ silhouettes and the darkness in the background, symbolizes people drowning in anxieties during quarantine, while also conveying warmth and hope.

Anirban Mishra

 

Kolkata, India

From the Distance
Charcoal on paper
More info
We are all suffering from the effect of the Coronavirus. We are social people. Social connection, love, affection, social gathering and normal daily life help us to live healthy and good lives. We lost everything in the Corona epidemic. It creates distance. Everyone tries to stay happy.  People come out to the street, but again and again, they need to maintain social distance.

Suvojit Roy

 

Kolkata, India

Separate
Mixed media
More info
The subject matter of my painting is the slum, the broken portion of the developed city. My works are a conversation between the insecurities of the slums and the confident permanence of the high-rises. These two sides have been touching me continuously. The life of people here are full of ups and downs and layers of struggles.

Sewon Rai

 

Kolkata, India

Crumbling Chaos
Acrylic on canvas
More info
The seasonal poppy flowers on barren land come from my childhood memories. The scarlet bloody beauty of hundreds and thousands of red poppies could be tears, could be blood, or could be simply poppies growing unnaturally covering the barren land. The poppies encircle create not only a spectacular visual but also a location for personal reflection.

Hyeran Jang

 

Seoul, South Korea

Large Tree
Oil & charcoal on canvas
More info
I paint abandoned places in the city, reorganizing them on the canvas. A large tree that seemed to cover the building looked like a strange part of the city.
Large Tree Detail
Oil & charcoal on canvas

Prithwish Daw

 

Kolkata, India

Deewaar Ke Piche III (Behind the Wall)
Ink and acrylic on digital printed board paper
More info
In our society we maintain many distances and invisible walls. Some are absolutely unnecessary and yet exist. Social media have eradicated the distance between two people who are unrelated, yet can be connected. Funnily though, they increasingly create distance among those who actually are in close proximity. Distance also means lack of understanding. We hope for education and enlightenment. 
Deewaar Ke Piche III (Behind the Wall), detail
Ink and acrylic on digital printed board paper

Mauricio Vázquez

 

Medellín, Colombia

The Path of Our Messages
Digital painting
More info
During this lockdown many of us stopped meeting physically with other people. However, everyday there are more spaces to keep talking with friends and family. Our messages travel across different latitudes.  We not only send our best wishes to our beloved ones, we also become witnesses of connections made in the distance.

Carlos Eduardo Cortes Muñoz

 

Cali, Colombia

La última cena (The Last Supper)
Acrylic on canvas
More info
This work engages visual poetics to delve into the idea of ​​creating a scene prior to the image. It ponders to whom the table belonged and what happened before and after, emphatically and directly interpreting from the distant and imminent.

Hannah Sullivan

 

Manchester, England, UK

Untitled III
Oil and cement on calico
More info
The layers in this painting express my own visual experience. Taking natural patterns, from what is around me, is the grounding of the painting, with new vision covering it. The work also expresses human experience through its color and explosive application of paint.

Subhadip Bhattacharya

 

West Bengal, India

Repairing My Old Memory
Mixed media
More info
An exploration of oral stories collected in my memory. Exploration of memories of my own day-to-day events and stories told and retold by my surroundings. Always the result is a different story from the past, maybe a fragmented one. I explore this idea of fragmented, unfolding the possibility of repair for longevity.  
Repairing My Old Memory (detail)
Mixed media

Francisca Sosa López

 

Caracas, Venezuela

Persianas (Blinds)
Mix media over cardboard, magazine, paper bags and flour
More info
This piece is part of the series "From kitchen to white walls: your trash is my treasure" started during the Covid-19 crisis. I used recycled materials from home to create surfaces to paint on. During difficult times, more than ever, one turns home. Nostalgia to be with family and friends seems to be a constant through isolation. I channel these feelings to find inspiration in the art historical past, visible in the streets of Caracas.
Persianas (Blinds), detail
Oil pastel, gouache, acrylic, pastel, pen and graphite over cardboard, magazine, paper bags and flour

Benjamin Grange

 

Provence, France

Effacement III
Acrylic & soft pastel on canvas
More info
This composition exists to create a calm meditative space for reflection. It is inspired by the marks left behind on a wall after the covering of graffiti. The form sits gently in the background whilst the repeated rows of colored lines pull the eye of the viewer elsewhere. This work comes from a series focused on themes of lost communication, erasure, censorship and the struggle for personal expression in a time that is  increasingly individualized and homogenized.

Justin Kim

 

Los Angeles, California, USA

Contemporary Imagination
Oil on canvas
More info
From an ongoing series--a simulacrum of how things may work within a structure or a system that may or may not be defined or delineated. The visual chasm may be obvious, yet the familiarity within the language this painting is using informs the audience of what I am trying to achieve.

Elena Bellotti

 

Chiari, Italy

Nobody Understands
Black acrylic & ink on paper
More info
This is an incomprehensible request visible to all, but understood by few. Each part contains a message that is too small to be seen. It needs the union of all the pieces to be screamed and listened to. Then it says “HELP”.

Mekayla Dionne

 

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Rising Hills
Acrylic on wood panel
More info
This painting is an abstract landscape, representing the vastness of distance and space, felt particularly strongly with the ongoing social isolation that many people are experiencing. Part of an ongoing body of work that explores color relationships, composition, and layering, it consists of many acrylic layers with a thick, tactile surface. Each color represents the layer in which it came from and exists in.

Aleksandr Lialiushkin

 

St. Petersburg, Russian Federation

 

Sense of Kin
Textile, threads & embroidery
More info
My personal story is a sequence of moving from point to point, trying to raise the quality of living. In this project, a concentrating meditative action faces an anarchic off-system desire to break down everything. I want the audience to see the metaphysical gradient of two opposite points, and ask themselves: Where am I and who are my kin?
Sense of Kin (detail)
Textile, threads & embroidery

Odirile Maboya

 

Soweto, Gauteng, South Africa

Separate Trinity
Lithography
More info
In this image  I seek to reveal how cults are causing division and imbalance in our communities. They teach us that we are separate from each other, when life is showing us the complete opposite.

Sharon Adebisi

 

London, England, UK

The Overwhelmed Foreigner
Acrylic on canvas
More info

Born and raised in the sleepy suburbs of London, I was recently taken to an African market in Ghana and thought I was going to faint. People everywhere. Smelly smells. Someone grabbing your arms to buy a bra.  All my westernized brain could do was internally scream. Little did I know that upon my return to the UK, with the Coronavirus self isolation and social distance measures in place, I would miss that market as if it were home.

Stéphane Bossart

 

Benin, West Africa

Télétravail (Teleworking) Covid-19
Photograph
More info
This historical moment transcends cultural differences, borders, ages. We are physically isolated by social distancing measures and at the same time hundreds of thousands of us around the world are living the same experience. I illustrate the way each of us occupies our days: praying, teleworking. Faced with all this as an artist, I wanted to bring a little warmth in these cold times of confinement and fear of coronavirus while at the same time sending a message: let's stay home and enjoy being together!
La Prière (The Prayer) Covid-19
Photograph
More info

I wanted to document my confinement playfully by involving my family. We created sets from what we had at home. The African fabrics remind us that we are all together in this crisis, no continent is spared. I didn't want to give a distressing image of this health crisis but rather to show how it has allowed us all to refocus on essential values: family ties, solidarity, compassion.

Henry Kenyon

 

London, England, UK

Through Reading II
Photograph
More info
Through reading we share emphatically (but not exclusively) human expression of curiosity. Two dramatically different people reading simultaneously is a very heartening idea. At its core, through reading, two people are acknowledging their inner child and with it a vulnerability, which I hope instills compassion. The man reading on the park bench is at the end of his book; while the other, in the café, is beginning his. This cyclical event offers many opportunities for shared understanding.
Through Reading I
Photograph
More info
Through reading the news we can begin to ‘know’ another, ‘an’-other. Someone, somewhere, who at the same moment is alive, feels, wants and thinks. Someone who our idea of was, initially, maybe opaque or prejudiced. Through the phenomenon of headlines a people, or a person and their place, enter our minds, maybe our vernacular. ‘Trump’, or ‘Wuhan’ come to mean more than the person or place. They become a feeling, of awe, fear, anger.

Lala Phan

 

Vietnam | London, UK

Kesh, traffic marshal, England
Photograph
More info
The photograph was taken on the streets of London, United Kingdom, during 2019 when the government was negotiating its withdrawal from the EU. The most populous city in the EU, London is a symbol of multiculturalism with over 40 percent of the population born overseas and more than 300 languages spoken daily. Shot during a period of uncertainty about the country’s future relationship to the rest of the world.
Tihomir, water bottler from Bulgaria
Photograph
More info
The photograph was taken on the streets of London, United Kingdom, during 2019 when the government was negotiating its withdrawal from the EU.  The most populous city in the EU, London is a symbol of multiculturalism with over 40 percent of the population born overseas and more than 300 languages spoken daily. Shot during a period of uncertainty about the country’s future relationship to the rest of the world.

Sofia Bianchini

 

Milan, Italy | London, England, UK

Citta’ di Vetro (City of Glass)
Oil on canvas
More info
This painting is a call from a distant place and time.  It is from a series exploring identity, as a result of memory and distance. I went through thousands of pictures I found in my family's house in Milan. To illustrate the distance between my present self and the past, I used washed-out hues and asymmetrical structures, adding a layer of surrealism typical of the haze produced by memory.

Hanna Dujmović

 

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Window
Acrylic on transparent paper
More info
Isolation made me appreciate more the main human right--freedom. This piece represents my auto-portrait – girl watching through a window, wishing to be free again. Dry brush moves with black acrylic paint make strange vibrations, so the painting looks alive.

Ong Jing Ren

 

Malaysia | Boston, USA   

 

 

Emotions
Acrylic & charcoal on paper
More info
Getting in touch with emotions, as the world enters an unprecedented phase of a global pandemic.  Sometimes we feel happy. Sometimes we feel sad. Sometimes we feel angry or hurt, or fearful. Sometimes we feel love. Is there a way to protect while also healing ourselves from the pains of isolation and loneliness?

Helena Kellerberg

 

Novosibirsk, Russian Federation

Observer
Oil on panel
More info
Drawn at the start of a pandemic, the Observer is calm, can imagine the development of events and accepts the world. But it is difficult for her eyes to withstand what is happening with people.

Rwigema Abdoul

 

Rwanda, East Africa

Enthralling
Mixed media

Gaia Inker

 

Norwich, England, UK

Absence
Acrylic on canvas
More info
Absence captures the feelings of isolation and emotional distance that so many are feeling during this pandemic. The effect of worldwide lockdowns on mental health makes the need for mutual and community support more significant than ever.

Vensa Temu

 

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

My Other Side
Charcoal & graphite on paper
More info
This  is a portrait of me with two sides. Everyone has a side which is hidden inside, yet very powerful.  It can be memories that never fade away or it can be hidden abilities that are not  recognized by people. Being recognized or appreciated by others can reduce the pain of the hidden side. 

Ricollin Moodley

 

Ladysmith KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa 

I’ll Carry You Through it All, Mom
Charcoal, watercolor pencils and color pastels on paper
More info
This young man is affected badly by Covid-19.  His dad has died from the disease and all the weight of the world is on his shoulders. 

Sintim Isaac

 

Kumasi, Ghana

Child on the Street
Wood veneer on plywood
More info
Walking along the roadside one afternoon, looking at the children returning from school, I thought about this boy on the street.
Child on the Street (Detail)
Wood veneer on plywood

Nwakanma Chiedozie

 

Awka, Nigeria

More info

The global pandemic has created a new world, transcending race, technological advancement, distance, wealth and power of individual nations.  Showing  how we all need each other, it gives us the need to call across the distance and unite as one formidable entity. The masks, representing different persons, races, cultures, religions and ideologies, are conjoined--showing that despite our differences, we can still be one; and despite distances, we can still reach out to each other.

 

Christy, Lo Lok Lam

 

Hong Kong  |  Georgia, USA

Here Am I
Oil on canvas
More info

I always wonder why I am here. Every step is planned for a reason. Every step, it seems, will last forever. Who really places me here? How? Anyway, here am I.

 

Cora Marin

 

Barcelona, Spain | Berlin, Germany

Whatever Is Happening to All Those Women Whose Households Are More Threatening Than the Virus?
Collage on paper
More info

Reflecting on thoughts that come up during quarantine, this piece is from the series of works "Brief contemplations from the indoors".

Yashika Sugandh

 

Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India

The Other Window
Acrylic & oil on canvas
More info
One wears a smile, she is fun to be with and vibrant, but there's a lot more behind the smile she carries. In this world where people enjoy the struggles of others, holding on to endless resentments, I've tried to throw some light on the bond of femininity by juxtaposing struggles and enjoyments in the same frame with bright bold colors.

George Mubanga

 

Lusaka, Zambia

Distance Relationship
Acrylic on canvas
More info
Even during social distancing, communication brings people together and closer to each other. It bridges the gap between individuals and groups through the flow of information and emotions. Communication helps us to unlock our minds by expressing ideas and feelings to each other.  It also helps us to understand the emotions and thoughts of others, despite being physically apart from each other.

Robert Vogt

 

Santiago, Chile

How to get closer while keeping our distance
Digital painting and collage
More info

About love in the times of the coronavirus. No one taught us to get close while keeping our distance.

 

Jyotirmoyee Barman

 

Howrah, West Bengal, India

Homegrown
Oil on canvas
More info
It is not an easy task to make a routine into a habit, as we are with social distancing.  Sometimes anxiety takes over but, as time passes, the mundane becomes priceless.
How it was, How it became, How it is
Oil & serigraphy on canvas
More info
Amid this social lockdown, we are all separated from our friends and loved ones, but we stay connected with any means possible. As time passes I see the sky is getting clearer, birds are singing more often, and nature is getting back on track once again, as human interventions are absent.

Suchandra Kundu

 

Kolkata, India

Leap of Faith
Acrylic, pen and mix on handmade paper
More info
To see that moment of instability that we keep playing in our head, creating and recreating the rhythm out of it. We keep dragging ourselves further than before to discover something that we might have missed. It's like living in different eras over the time, while dealing with the process of identity, conversion, cure and self acceptance.

Matt Meyer

 

Edwardsville, Illinois, USA

Friendship
Foam, spray paint, and saran wrap
More info

This work is about preserving relationships during the Covid-19 quarantine.

 

Joey Aronhalt

 

Akron, Ohio, USA

Untitled
Photograph
More info

This image explores how isolation can happen in cities not because of space, but because of perception. It is created for an ongoing series--reflecting on the neighborhood of Summit Lake in Akron, Ohio.

 

Elizabeth Cardozo-Richards

 

London, England, UK

9 in Isolation
Double glazed glass, rocks and bricks
More info
This sculpture is about the current social distancing we are all experiencing. The rocks and bricks are stand-ins for the body. The rocks rest on top of the glass pieces, acting as a protective layer between them and the grass floor they are compressing, creating  a barrier between elements. The space between the rocks emphasizes the space between the floor and the space between one-another. The edges frame the bricks in an invisible prison.

Jacob Wirth

 

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Con-Act
Public Performance
More info

Video-performance I produced in collaboration with three other artists (Maria Plotnikova, Siomon Whiteeley-Allen, William Zeng) nine hours before the lockdown in Chicago.  

 

Diana Rogagels

 

Lisbon, Portugal

J a n e l a (window)
Video
More info

This piece is about an abstract creature having a dialog with something.  I am driven by an obsession with the image, in a constant search to create what exists mentally, that needs to exist visually.

Methas Chantawongs

 

Bangkok, Thailand

More info

This experimental film was completed in December 2019. The original concept was inspired by questions, at the grassroots level, about differences in social class restrictions. Then I decided to re-edit the last-minute of the film to focus on social inequity under lockdown because of the COVID-19 epidemic situation.

 

Amalie Klitgaard

 

Silkeborg, Denmark

More info

The coronavirus has impacted our mental state of freedom and has blurred the line between reality and imagination. These existential topics are explored in this short, self-biographical video.

 

Scott Pearce

 

Glasgow, Scotland, UK

More info

A response to the ambivalence I feel while in the flat where I grew up. It is a place full of good and bad experiences. The work  intends to create a dialogue between the contrasting memories, while simultaneously referring to a sense of place. It has gained strong new meaning with the current worldwide lockdown that many of us are experiencing.

 

Dmitrii Kilaga Ovodov

 

Murmansk, Russian Federation

Collusion
Video Installation
More info

Collusion is a forced agreement between two sides: the government and the person in isolation, where the latter can only wait for the pandemic to pass like a train. The waiting time is not known, and a sense of alienation and misunderstanding develop in parallel.

Simon Nunn

 

Norwich, England, UK

Where are we going?
Video
More info

The video, made in lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic, explores the liminal space between past, present and the unknown. A dying man narrates his poetic thoughts as his life flashes before his eyes.

 

Martin Krafft

 

Tucson, Arizona, USA

Introducing Cassandra
Video
More info

This video launches Cassandra's faux-Republican presidential campaign. Drawing from Greek mythology, the campaign uses a mask inspired by traditional Greek theater to blur lines between the individual and the collective, the real and the fantastic.

 

Oliver Oliver

 

Hong Kong | Portland, ME, USA

The Museum Show Ep5: Cleaning the Museum
Video
More info

Part of the ongoing video series ‘The Museum Show’, this episode was created in response to Coronavirus, addressing and critiquing our current situation, circling back to what "cleaning" can mean in the context of museums.

 

Qafar Rzayev

 

Ganja, Azerbaijan

Boy with White Bedsheet
Video
More info
I was in bed all day. My white bed sheet reminded me of “kefen” (in Azerbaijan, a white shroud used to roll people in while burying) and of “belek” (in Azerbaijan, a white shroud used to roll new-born babies in). It was as if I had split in two. I fought with myself, and it lasted for 18 days. Today I climbed from the basement to the roof of the building to raise the flag of peace.

First Prize

Raka Panda: ‘Around the Sky’ and ‘Under the Sky’, for both paintings

 

Second Prize

 Stéphane Bossart: ‘La prière Covid-19’ and ‘Télétravail Covid-19’ for both photographs

 

Special Mention Prizes

Xingweiai Fang:  ‘The Convenience Store in the City Park  I and II’, paintings

Simon Nunn:  ‘Where Are We Going?’, video

Dmitrii Kilaga Ovodov:  ‘Collusion’, video

Ádám Dora: ‘Framed Sky’, painting

'Thank you to encourage art in this dark period and especially to make life looks less sad.'

(Giovanni Insaudo, Italy / Switzerland)

 

'Thank you for this opportunity during these challenging times.'

(Jenna Ringuette, USA)

 

'I am very grateful that projects like yours come up.... to see artists

and institutions come together in solidarity through these times of need.

It's mandatory to show the world that art will continue to thrive

no matter the obstacles, as it has always done.'

(Cora Marin, Spain / Germany)

 

'The global pandemic has created a new world that transcends race,

technological advancement, distance, wealth and powers of individual nation,

showing us how we all need each other, giving us the need to call

across distance and unite as one formidable entity.'

(Nwakanma Chiedozie, Nigeria)

 

 

Many thanks to all the artists, from the four corners of the globe,

who responded to the Call for this extraordinary exhibition!

 

 

It is thanks to you that art can continue to thrive,

that we all can continue to stay alert, to pay attention, 

to notice what seemed hidden and to look at the world with different eyes.