Artist documents his days of isolation through art
The Hindu
Chennai-based art director Bala Govind Kumar’s digital art series, ‘Quarantine Days’, is a visual diary of his emotions
When Bala Govind Kumar tested positive for COVID-19 on April 26 in Chennai, he spent 14 days in isolation at his rented apartment in Kilpauk, feeling lonely and listless. Through these days, he used his iPad to create a visual diary of his emotions through art. The series of six paintings, ‘Quarantine Days’, is an exploration of the concept of self. “All I could see was myself. Why not create self-portraits, I thought,” says Bala, whose style is greatly inspired by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. He recorded a video of himself engaged in various daily chores and made a montage of the stills for his first work titled Rooted. It shows versions of himself staring out the window and at the ceiling, eating, and looking at his phone.
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