Following a very interesting premise for an art project, a one-of-a-kind exhibition is scheduled to be held in the United Kingdom with the intention to showcase craft submitted by people shielding themselves from the onslaught of the Covid-19 pandemic. The project welcomes participating creators to use the exhibition as a safe space, reflecting on the suffering brought upon them and their loved ones by the lockdown.
Of Home and Hope, a project as its name suggests will feature 600 works by people who had been isolated during the trying times of the pandemic or were clinically vulnerable to the infection. The exhibition will first open at London’s Southbank Centre, although it will tour after this and move ahead to areas like Manchester and Sunderland.
To appreciate the artists, along with the pieces, portraits of the people with their work will also be put up on billboards. The main aim behind this imaginative initiative is to show the positive correlation between community art and the well-being of its people.
The art project has been undertaken in close collaboration with the National Academy for Social Prescribing, wishing to offer motivation during the harrowing times of the isolation caused due to individuals’ susceptibility to Covid-19. Many of the creators were also in care homes when they fashioned the pieces.
More than 4500 were associated with this plan, engaging with the help of their families, friends and caregivers.
According to Alexandra Brierley, director of creative learning at the Southbank Centre, these recreational, and at the same time, creative activities were started with the intent to “ease isolation, loneliness and digital exclusion” across the country.
The exhibition will be an array of creative pieces including paintings, drawings and poetry. The themes for these creations revolve around nature, hope, sound and movement.
48 year old Luke who hails from Devon said in an interview “Art by Post has been a lightning bolt of inspiration and positive creativity to my senses, making me realise the sun sometimes shines brilliantly if you work for it.” As a ‘lightning bolt of inspiration’, this exhibition is a proud presenter of phenomenal works that are a counter to the distressing times that people went through in their period of isolation.
While the exhibition will begin in a physical space, it will also be made available online for people who are unable to visit the venues. After its initial days in London in the month of October, the exhibition will head to The Mill Arts Centre and Banbury Museum & Gallery in Oxfordshire, The Arts Centre Washington in Sunderland, and The Beaney House of Art & Knowledge in Canterbury. Following this, the exhibition will proceed on to a permanent Home in Manchester and De Montfort University in Leicester. It will come to an end in March 2022, after a wonderful tour of creativity and brilliance on show.
This art project is an impactful way to create works that will be appreciated for a long time to come while giving a creative outlet to deal with their physical and emotional hardships.
