Art for Wuhan, China: He Kun’s Journal
This week, our blog will show a watercolour painting diary series by one of our Chinese artists, He Kun. He started this series from the first day of Chinese year with the intention of recording how did the coronavirus has impacted our daily lives especially during this special period of time that is the new year for every family in China in 2020.
This painting above was created on the first day of the Chinese New Year. It is titled “Wish Happy New Year”.
The setting is the Yunnan province, located in Southern China, where warm weather and brightly coloured plants bloom throughout the entire year. In this painting, the plum tree blossoms with beautiful pink flowers in the background. You can imagine birds chipping, jumping on the ground, signifying that spring is here. But in the middle, two men wear masks, glasses, hats, and long coats; they remain distanced from one another but great each other hello with their hands.
Usually we will shake hands, and pat each other’s backs as a greeting, wishing one another a good year ahead, and we exchange gifts.
On the second day, He Kun painted “Go out for a walk”, shown below.
Now, it is not as simple as before to go out for a walk with your do. Before, you only needed to put on the collar and lead, and off you go. But now, you need to cover yourself from head to toe, just like the person depicted in He Kun’s image. Normally, this park would be such a relaxing place to take a dog for a walk, and now that has become a dangerous task. You can’t even dare to take a deep breath outside without wearing a mask! Flowers are still blooming, birds are still singing, the sun is still shining, but you can’t enjoy it; there is no relaxing outdoors as the outbreak of the coronavirus has changed every single aspect of our daily lives.
How can this have happened to us? Why? Where did the coronavirus come from? When did the coronavirus start to spread to humans? How long is this going to last? How many people will die from this sudden tragedy before it’s under control? These are the questions people in China who are suffering are asking, and others around the world too.
If you have created artwork relating to the impact of the coronavirus on China or the wider world, please contact us; we would love to share your work.