THE LOCKDOWN COLLECTION

This series was created during the initial Covid-19 lockdown period in Oman in 2020.

During this time, I experienced an enormous urgency to create freely and expressively, without having any type of end result in mind. I used mixed media in a way I haven’t used before – in the almost aggresive markmaking, but also in the combination of materials. A repeat pattern print formed the base and substrate of the work, and I built upon it with acrylics, oil pastels and thread.

In retrospect I can clearly see my emotions and thoughts at the time of creation – the excessive optimistic/positive reassurances (“I’m ok, you’re ok, we’re all ok”), the breaking of routine and the settling into new rituals (“The New”), the overwhelming need for creative and visual expression (“Ablaze”) and of course, in the subject material (landscape), the question of space.

My personal experience and emotions are captured and explored in these works, but those experiences and emotions are by no means unique only to me. These works represent a collective experience that connects with everyone who made it through a very unusual and tumultuous time.