Born 1994, Kherson, Ukraine.
Isolation is not something new for an artist...
Anna Zaporozhets
Isolation is not something new for an artist. You are constantly in search of yourself, searching for harmony, reflection on the world. Isolation is an important component of the creative process. However, when you try to find harmony in yourself and on the canvas, the flow of information can suddenly burst into a destructive force: «quarantine», «death toll», «pandemic», «Сovid-19»…
Quarantine found me on March 11, 2020 in Kyiv (Ukraine), where I live and work. To resist coronavirus, my country immediately imposed a quite strict quarantine, so I was locked alone in the apartment and went out only to a grocery store and pharmacy if there was a necessity.
This mode greatly affected on the productivity of my work: I was constantly flipping through the news, watching the number of sick and dead, which was always increasing, constantly felt uncertain about the future, had lack of communication with family and friends. All these factors did not allow me to start the creative process. In such times, the main thing is not to panic, to take yourself in hand, and to understand that you need to continue working at home, to transmit and record your everyday experience. So my artworks “Influence” and “Restrictions” are just about an impact, to which we are exposed every second.
Quarantine has shown me that external isolation is not a reason to limit creativity. On the contrary, it contributed some kind of revolution, a certain excitement and boost of productivity at work.
External does not mean internal, namely “internal” creates and inspires all of us in creative activity.
For me, COVID-2019 is an inner explosion that breaks my emotions into particles, each of which I tried to recreate on the cloth and convey my inner world to the viewer.
We all became hostages of a pandemic least year. It made adjustments in the life of most people. Because of the limited social activity that we are so used to now, you begin to feel that everything in this world is shaky and unstable, you dive into your inner world, experiences and thoughts.. This gave impetus to reconfigure the life and, of course, it was accompanied by confusion, which turn into fear and inner anxiety. So I tried to transfer my own experiences in a small series of paintings about a man in a pandemic.
Quarantine is a trial. Quarantine is a challenge. Personal space in my own apartment hasn’t changed. I just strongly felt that it was much wider, extending beyond the apartment. Quarantine continues and life with it.
Quarantine is a complex emotional and psychological challenge and, to some extent, a big burden for all of us. But we should not forget that COVID-19 is an experience that gives us a new vision of realities and opportunities to consider the worldview from a new angle. It has become a catalyst for testing for self-knowledge and self-isolation.
The picture “Restrictions” shows how much limited space and limited communication affect on a person. The picture gives the opportunity to think about what or who a human really is. Are we the center of everything we know? Or are we just small creatures? A creature that is closed and powerless from environmental factors. The soft female body depicted in the painting is only flesh, which is cut by yellow quarantine stripes on the canvas by the artist’s hand.
A woman is the personification of beauty, a source of kindness that can change the world regardless of external restrictions. And art is eternity, like the soul, which is the most important component of transmitting emotions, fears and feeling of the picture.
Art project #365daysafter