Africa’s 1st virtual art & photo exhibition born during Covid19 quarantine.
Powered by Picha Images. #AfricaCovidExhibition
If someone had told us that some novel virus that crawled out of a Wuhan Animal Market would come and disrupt the world as Corona Virus has, we would have laughed at their face and told them that they have watched a lot of apocalyptic movies. In any case, China is thousands of kilometers away from Africa, and virtually no one on this sunny side of the continent knows where Wuhan is, until now.
Here we are. Corona is here, and it is no longer business as usual.
In all that has happened, the world has been forced to adjust itself to the new modus operandi, with businesses opting to move operations online.
What does this mean for the photographers and videographers of the world whose business model greatly depends on physically meeting with or working with their clients? Those whose livelihood is scouting out locations to shoot and not to mention all the birthday parties, weddings and other events we so greatly rely on to earn a living. How do we adapt to this new age of social distancing and staying at home?
At Picha Images we decided to take this rare opportunity to explore the meaning and influence of Art during this period.
Historically, Art has been proven to have the power to revolutionize the way we think about political and social issues. Owing to this we launched the Africa Covid Exhibition with the aim of inspiring creatives across the continent to submit their Covid inspired works, depicting the way their lives and that of people around them has drastically changed in order to accommodate the effects of Corona Virus(Covid-19).
Around the world, the media has done a great deal in covering the happenings of the West and social media has been a key tool in uniting people from all over the globe to share their lives in lockdown, with musicians serenading audiences from their balconies in Italy to all the work out challenges and many more. But what of Africa? How are we coping? Simple gestures such as a hand shake have taken a whole new meaning, what is it like to go to the market?
We would all love to see what that looks like from an African perspective, tell us your story through your pictures and videos.
How can you participate?
Follow @AfricaCovidExhibition on Instagram
Use #AfricaCovidExhibition on social media to be featured
Submit your work via shorturl.at/lvIK8
Africa’s 1st art & photo exhibition born during Covid19 quarantine
Powered by @pichaimages
Through this exhibition we hope to motivate artists to continue to create despite the situation around them; use the following as guidelines to inspire your creative process. Be captivating, satirical, or thought-provoking. Be you!
- What is the face of the pandemic? Is it a mask? Is it social distancing? Is it the lack of travel? And how does that look through your lens?
- How have gestures and everyday activities changed? Think movement, shopping, dressing? Can you capture the change?
Essentials. Masks have become just as vital as the shoes we wear, let’s prioritize.
We are happy that within weeks of launching the exhibition we have received hundreds of submissions from artists all over the continent.
The exhibition will be running for the duration of the pandemic (we do not know how long that will be) and we encourage more submissions.
Share this article and/or our social media handles and invite your friends and family to like, share, follow and submit their works. We aim to award the top picks and hold a virtual exhibition as well as a physical one within once life has settled back to normal functioning.
We look forward to receiving your submissions and remember, creative thinking inspires innovative art.
Now let us go out (rather stay in) and create !!!
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