The Royal Society of Canada, which includes many of Canada's top scholars and artists, is hosting a new website that displays creative work related to pandemics.
Created by a working group from the society's task force on COVID-19, the site features various disciplines, as well as academic writing about pandemics, both historical and contemporary.
Many challenges the coronavirus pandemic has brought are complex and difficult to articulate in everyday terms, says Sean Caulfield, a visual artist and professor at the University of Alberta who chairs the working group.
“Canadians are confronting feelings of fear, anxiety, isolation and loss on a daily basis, as well as searching for ways to be hopeful and to find strength as the country works through this difficult period of uncertainty," he says. "Creative work has a vital role to play in helping to give voice to this side of the pandemic, and provide a deeper understanding and fuller picture of the impact COVID-19 is having on the country.”
Featured artists include Edmonton's Blair Brennan, whose drawings respond to ongoing news from the pandemic, and Becky Thera, who explores themes of empathy, intimacy and feminist politics.
The website aims to include work in music, sound, literature, visual art, theatre, performance and media arts.
A free online opening for Engaging Creativities: Art in the Pandemic is being held March 5 at 7 p.m. EST.
Source: Royal Society of Canada
