ARTIST: NKOSENHLE BHEBHE
COUNTRY: ZIMBABWE
MATERIALS USED: PEN, PENCIL, PAINT
Corona virus strikes dread and a feeling of extreme hopelessness in the hearts of many. Death looms over our shoulders every time our parents have to go out in search of food which is portrayed by the angel of death on my mother’s shoulder and this is a fate shared by people of all skin color shown by the different skin colors of all the people shown in the art work even the young and the old showed people of different age groups. Our meals have reduced from a standard three to just one lonely meal, just before bed as shown by the people sitting in an empty dinner table and the child sitting with an empty plate.
Corona virus has killed my sister’s hopes and dreams of being a civil engineer. All the money has been spent trying to make ends meet portrayed by the sad girl wearing a red dress. Dad’s been watching the business in which he poured his blood, sweat and tears into, sink into the depths of despair. He faces the fear of falling sick as he works to seek money to feed the family. Amidst all this pain and misery, the art industry stands true and refuses to bow to this global pandemic, the paint smeared on my mother’s face represents this and also the mask artists must wear at home and at work as Covid-19 weighs on their necks as shown by the Covid-19 necklaces she is wearing and earrings.
My aunt can no longer breastfeed her baby because she can no longer produce enough milk due to the limited food she eats. The baby now has to be bottle fed by my uncle as a supplement so that she stays healthy. Prices have skyrocketed and we can hardly afford the basics. The government subsidized mealie meal. This mealie meal is still way too expensive for us. Misery has been the order of the day since the first extension of the lockdown since the number of cases keeps growing. Boredom and growling tummies are what I think about when I hear those dreadful words, corona virus. It has managed to disrupt my life in such a short space of time.
My social life is dead; with no data I might as well be a cave man and I cannot even go out to see my friends. TV is not helping either, the same boring programs keep repeating, killing me slowly with boredom it may sound trivial but my mental health is important too. All this is summarized by the notifications on the red smart phone.All my hard work and dedication gone down the drain thanks to this narcissistic virus. After all the sleepless nights I spent working on my A-levels but I can’t go to university.
The worst part is that the virus came along and took away all our life savings and my college fund. This is portrayed by the skull with a pen in its mouth.
