Creative Virus

100 days of collage

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On the 19th of March 2020, the first day of lockdown in England, I made a collage, dedicated to my father, on Father’s Day. I posted it on Instagram inviting others to use the word: Father as a prompt.

That was the beginning of the Creative Virus #creativevirus20

A different prompt every day, for 100 days.

Creating something every day for 100 days takes effort. But when you do it during a global pandemic it can help stay present and stay grounded. It becomes a ritual and rituals have always been coping mechanisms, a way to get answers collectively or in solitude, since the beginning of time.

Making a collage every day didn’t feel like a chore, but rather an achievement and it provided me with a sense of purpose during challenging days potentially filled with emptiness. A lot of learning came out of the experience, but my biggest achievement was reaching a point of total acceptance. Acceptance for my inadequacy, for my lack of consistency, for my childness. Making a different work every day inevitably brings to the surface the circumstance of the day, the mood, the time or papers available.  Some collages were more conceptual, other were silly, some were simple, some superficial, others more elaborate or dark.

But every one of them had a place on the sketchbook as a result of the ritual, and it was loved -or hated- as such.

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Mixed Media on sketchbook

March to June 2020