The virus has embarked on a new phase provoking more controversy and lively debate as countries learn more about the nature of Covid 19 and its symptoms. We now know that in many cases people have had it and displayed no signs of the virus whatsoever so may have transmitted it to others. Some countries have handled the problems really well and others have not been very successful with large numbers of deaths being reported. There are still fears of a second pandemic and as I write there is no vaccine although we hear at the moment that the UK appears to be close to finding one which is undergoing trials. Some countries such as France, Germany, Spain and Italy are starting to loosen their restrictions by opening up schools and restaurants but we now know that most UK schools will not be opening until September.
On top of this, the Back Lives Matter campaign and protests about racial equality are sweeping the Globe as the result of the George Floyd incident in Minneapolis, USA, where he was held down by the police and died as a result of an officer kneeling on his neck despite the victim gasping that he couldn’t breathe. Protests started, violence erupted and ugly scenes developed in many countries where protesters believed the issues (job losses, underprivilege, hunger, homelessness, poverty, healthcare access, outright racial prejudice) and the fact that black and ethnic minorities have been more susceptible to coronavirus and died from it provided a toxic mix for civil unrest. Calls are being made for history to be re-written concerning slavery, statues have dismantled or defaced and other more extreme measures may be taken.
These problems have existed for hundreds of years at various times in world history and leaders or dictators have learnt nothing, a subject which I’ve touched on in some of my past paintings:-
The first image refers to Napoleon’s invasion of Spain in 1808 using some images copied from Goya (his Disasters of War etchings) providing the background to the famine and Genocide in Somalia from 2010 to 2012 where starving children suffered and died due to the struggle for power in that country. The second is the ultimate atrocities committed in World War 2 during the Holocaust where, prior to being gassed in Auschwitz, many Jews were sent to Theresienstadt before taking their final journeys to the concentration camp to perish in the gas chambers. The last collage shows Joan Baez and Bob Dylan two of the main civil rights and anti- Vietnam War protesters in the 1960’s where racial inequality campaigners in the USA fought segregation, the Klu Klux Klan, and extreme right wing elements under the leadership of Martin Luther King.
Although tentative measures are being taken to ease the lockdown and save jobs and help the economy these difficult conditions have changed our lives, but I’m trying hard to stay positive and preserve a loving, kind and caring attitude which will be be reflected in any artwork I produce and I’m trying to use imaginative, colourful and creative images in my art. Below is the most recent painting I’ve done.
As I’m signing off, it’s very hot today, probably the hottest so far this year, and an awful number of people think it’s sensible to dispense with caution and risk trips to the coast and countryside and ignore any advice to keep safe. We have decided to judge for ourselves what is best for us and our family and friends by avoiding densely crowded areas.