ARTIST: MUNODASHE SITHOLE
COUNTRY: ZIMBABWE
MATERIALS USED: PENCIL, PEN, OIL PAINT, WATERCOLOURS and CRAYONS
As a passionate artist, my painting aims at educating, encouraging and showing the effects of the Coronavirus. The crown virus at the centre I used yellow and red colour trying to convey the idea that red – Coronavirus is dangerous and harmful, yellow- it carries denial, it’s not welcome on our culture, on Africa at large.
The orange colour on background represents shock and disbelief, for centuries our culture as Africans remained an important part of our life, the cultural dances, ceremonies that we always carried out with joy, it’s a shock that due to COVID-19 we are all bound to keep our social distance, we now wear extra protective masks instead of our cultural masks, for instance, the African drum that’s the heartbeat of African culture would have to be set aside for our safety from Coronavirus. With no intention to oppose the social distance that we are all encouraged my layout is such that my characters are spaced apart.
The colour green on background represents hope and acceptance, inspired by a phrase that says “Let us rest today and travel tomorrow” shows that there’s hope for a brighter future, lockdown measures have been put forth by our leaders and everyone has accepted them even on the culture sector hence with green I’m saying, accepting all the measures doesn’t mean we are giving up but it’s a strategy because there’s hope. COVID-19 has affected many people hence the idea of painting the African woman wearing a black necklace to represent how depressed she is, also with the idea of tears overflowing from the African traditional pot. The necklace with an African continent and the doek of African flags is an idea to unite everyone in fighting Coronavirus.
