Liz Hutchinson
Artist Maker
Marking the Days
NOW BEING EXHIBITED AT THE COUNTERWEAVE GALLERY, ROME, AS PART OF THEIR 'ARTISTS UNDER LOCKDOWN' EXHIBITION
https://counterweave.com/artunderlockdown/
An ongoing collection of A6 drawings in acrylic, pen and ink created during the time of Coronavirus. Each drawing represents one day of Lockdown.
As an artist particularly concerned with issues of loss, mourning and the effects of time passing, the emerging coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdown are a source of interest and unexpected inspiration, alongside the inevitable sadness.
Unable to access my studio, I realized I was going to need a homebased practice and daily routine to provide structure and a means of establishing a kind of creative dialogue as the internal days and external events unfolded. The art materials I had at home were very limited, just some basic inks, a few random tubes of acrylic and only torn out pages of sketchbooks for a regular paper supply
My starting point was simply to be in the practice of playing with these limited supplies, making marks and drawing in whatever way felt right, for a short period each day. The emphasis was on process and discipline rather than results and it quickly became a therapeutic and calming interval in the day.
As these days in isolation and the number of small bits of paper have increased, they have formed a growing body of work which has in itself, become a singular piece, organically changing to reflect my ongoing experience and response. The work begins to feel like ‘snippets’ of a dream, at times hopeful, sporadically nightmarish, but to be viewed as a collective whole. I start to see themes repeatedly emerge which help to form a kind of visual vocabulary for my lived experience of lockdown and its associated loss. Supermoons, sanctuaries, epidemiological curves and the landscape as viewed from the window, interweave repeatedly, describing my loss of connection and anxiety, loss of freedom and autonomy.
Increasingly I am viewing this work as much more than a therapeutic exercise, but as a growing resource and visual diary that will inform future work once this lockdown period ends. It is a collection born from a time that I suspect I will view, in retrospect, as peculiarly precious and the passing of which I may, in time, lament.
