"I cut my hair on this day, I just felt like it plus my parents said I needed it cut and nowhere is open. I let my brother cut my hair once in 4th grade, it wasn’t good. I did it myself this time, a buzz cut. I really like this picture of me in a tree with my eyes censored. I have taken a few photographs with my eyes covered, I guess it’s becoming a thing, my signature style. All of the photographs I have taken for this project have been self portraits, I like people in photographs. It doesn't have to be me, people make it more interesting." ~Sam Antongiovanni
Diogo Goncalves (Lisbon, Portugal), Dwell in thought #1, photography, NFS.
"The confinement projects us against the walls. The exterior light reflects us into the interior of our homes. Outside we are the projection of how we inhabit the house. In this time of physical interiorization, it remains for us to inhabit thought. Everything seems monochromatic. However, we are dissolving everything we are."
Muyuan He (New York, NY), Akabane #1, photography, NFS.
Born in Wuhan and currently living in New York City, I have had so many feelings since January. Not all of those feelings are positive. However, I am grateful for the fact that, after the global quarantine started, the distance between my apartment in uptown Manhattan and my colleague’s house in Queens feels the same as the distance between me and my friends in other countries. Not long ago, my friend in Tokyo sent me a message, “This is her mom, because I don’t have mine. We cannot change our current situation now, but when things get better, come and play with us again.” The warm message brought me back to my friend’s neighborhood that I visited a couple of years ago. It gave me hope that one day I could see the same sceneries that I remember, from her window.
Ryan Napier (Thornton, Colorado), Self Portrait II, mixed media, NFS.
I've had a lot of time to think in the last several weeks, which, on top of having a birthday in quarantine, has proven to aid the onset of a bout of depression. The piece is not particularly dark because it portrays in part, a hope of what my life might become, along with what few positive elements I do see at the moment. It is also about polarity, duality. I have given myself the freedom to explore, indulging in a wider variety of facets of my life and character. There are elements of the double-edgedness of medicine and healing, pulling from imagery of brain scans and mental health.
Sanpapié Dance and Physical Theatre (Milan, Italy), A[1]BIT at home, mixed media, NFS.
To RESIST is what we’re doing: firstly we’re trying to withstand the feeling of being separated, angry and trapped. We do live performances and we miss the audience, shared public space and presence, not replaceable through a screen. Even in this situation, we’ve chosen NOT TO GIVE UP DOING, NOT TO GIVE UP SEARCHING for the hidden inspiration, for the intrinsic possibility, for the opportunity to interpret the word EMPATHY in a deeper, more inclusive, poetic and ironic acceptation.
WINDOWS INTO THE WORLD
An International Art Response to Quarantine
This open call, virtual exhibition features personal perspectives during this time of the COVID-19 pandemic; literal views from one's window, interpretive responses of emotional life, or aspirational views were welcome. Each image is accompanied by a short reflective statement about the creator's experience.
Some of the most inspiring artwork has come from the darkest of times. Pablo Picasso painted Guernica at his home in Paris in response to the bombing of Guernica, a Basque Country town in northern Spain, by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. A tour of the painting raised funds for Spanish war relief. Freda Kahlo transformed her body casts into mystical paintings during her many bed bound, post-op recovery periods. When Henri Matisse could no longer stand, he drew from his bed using an improvised staff. Ruth Asawa found her calling as an artist at age 16, in an internment camp. Early American Whalers passed their idle time by carving images into leftover whale teeth and bones. More recently, Kremena Todorova and Kurt Gohde of Kentucky, have been photographing community members on their porches as a community portrait project. How are you using your time? Use your visual voice to share your unique point of view. We want to see!
For questions or press inquiries contact Cameron Kelly, Gallery Director at ckelly@chicoartcenter.com
