Alice Toich Exhibition at Chandler House

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.