Visual Manifestations of COVID-19 in Global Contemporary Art: Artistic Responses During a Time of Isolation

Sahba Youssef Yaqoub; Saba Youssef Yaqoub

doi:10.63931/ijchr.v7iSI3.576

Authors

Sahba Youssef Yaqoub College of Education for Girls, Library, Al-Iraqiya University
Saba Youssef Yaqoub College of Fine Arts, University of Baghdad

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.63931/ijchr.v7iSI3.576

Keywords:

COVID-19, visual art, isolation, pandemic, global contemporary art, visual symbolism, emotional expression

Abstract

The article discusses the visual representations of the COVID-19 pandemic in modern art globally, and the ways in which artists around the world responded to the pandemic using symbolic and expressive visual language. While the pandemic was a health crisis, it was culturally, psychologically, and socially oriented. The study applies a descriptive analytical method in examining five pieces of art from various countries that present diverse aesthetic, conceptual, and contextual approaches. The key findings are that artists presented isolation, fear, resilience, and transformation through a diverse range of mediums ranging from digital media, painting, to murals. The article identifies the creation of a new art discourse grounded in common trauma and a necessity to visually represent the social and emotional cost of the pandemic. In this, the article positions the role of contemporary art to document but also make sense of emotionally global crises.

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