Anna U Davis had a hard time getting ahold of art materials over the last 18 months, so she turned to a new source of mixed media — her closet. Alexandra Sherman, who grew up in the antique business, used her knowledge of the industry and the medium to create a modern version of “plague art” that offered her focus. And Jordanne Wine took up her scissors and created a mandala-making routine that grounded her and moved her toward a goal.
These women, as well as a handful of others, mostly based in Qatar and the Middle East, are part of a new exhibit at the Qatar America Institute for Culture (QAIC) that celebrates international female artists and their pandemic creations: Women of the Pandemic: Creativity in Quarantine.
Hosted at QAIC through December 2021 in partnership with the Katara Cultural Village in Doha, Qatar, Women of the Pandemic began as a virtual exhibition, and while the exhibit can still be viewed on QAIC’s website, visitors are also encouraged to safely visit the 32 artworks in person at QAIC. Admission is free.
The artworks are varied in style and substance, but each shows how pandemic isolation could possibly have made women more creative — or speaks to the difficult trade-offs and sacrifices that female artists experienced over the last 18 months. As Peggy Loar, the exhibition curator suggests: “Creativity is often the spark that enables them to climb mountains.”
From images of women interacting with nature to glittered shapes, and deconstructed clothing, to repurposed invoices and bills touched by people through the ages, Women of the Pandemic is a sampling of how international artists have chosen to move forward.
“I was frightened and nervous, and distressed about everything going on,” said Sherman, speaking at the opening reception. “But cutting tiny stars seemed to be just the focus I needed.”
Women of the Pandemic: Creativity in Quarantine remains on view online and at QAIC through the end of 2021.
