WORDS Michaela Stehr IMAGES Alice Toich, courtesy of Chandler House
Local artist Alice Toich’s new exhibition at the Voorkamer Gallery at Chandler House, entitled When We Were In Quarantine, features a collection of pieces that she created as part of the #21DaysOfArtSA project.
The exhibition showcases the pieces Alice painted and sketched during the initial three-week lockdown in South Africa. Alice was motivated to initiate an online challenge, where people were encouraged to paint, draw or sketch around a daily topic, uploading work to Instagram with the hashtag #21DaysOfArtSA.
On the project’s inception, she elaborates, “Suddenly it dawned on me – with the amount of people going into what was surely one of the longest times they had possibly spent alone in quarantine – how would they mentally and emotionally cope? Then I thought: ‘How do I mentally and emotionally cope? Oh, duh – painting!’ And it hit me: the idea to host a 21 days of art-making challenge that would help, in some small way or form, all of us to get through this, one crimson crayon at a time!”
Not only restricted to artists and participants in South Africa, people from around the globe were encouraged to get involved. The challenge received over 3 000 entries, highlighting Alice’s manifesto, that art is universal and for everyone.
Follow @alice_toich on Instagram and take some time to look up the hashtag #21DaysOfArtSA to see more contributions to the project.