Chinese artists, locked down by the coronavirus, got creative and got to work
Cooped up during the country’s ‘longest spring festival’, artists produced a variety of works, including photography, paintings and collage
As much of the world locks down in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, many people are experiencing the boredom and uncertainty that was the province of mainland China during the initial outbreak, a period now popularly dubbed “zui chang de guonian”, or the longest spring festival.
For those quarantined in their flats, it was a time when bad news, local and national, had to be digested over long days living in the shadow of this terrifying new disease. Some found light relief playing dinner-table ping pong or living-room badminton, videos of which have since gone viral on social media. But for China’s creative classes, the worry, anger, horror and hope inevitably manifested into works of art produced in the confines of their homes.
Li Zhengde
“The virus struck not long after the wedding and we got stuck indoors. We couldn’t even go to the supermarket without a mask and we only had one for the entire extended family.”
Trapped in a 16th-floor flat overlooking the verdant mountains and jade waters of the Zi River, Li spent his initial weeks in lockdown worrying his first son would be born under a bad star.
“I had nothing else to do but stare at the night sky out of the window each evening. I couldn’t sleep, nor could I go out and shoot photos,” he says. “I had a view that seemed somewhat ironic, the river still flowed but the people could not, so I drank beer and meditated on the scene.”
