Artists Worldwide Express COVID-19 Sentiments via Street Art
The global COVID-19 health crisis spawned various political and social issues that many artists from around the world reflected on, by way of street art.
Dr. Tyson Mitman, a Senior Criminology and Sociology Lecturer St John University, shared a compilation of the different murals on The Conversation. Along with Twitter posts of the street artists, Dr. Mitman gave us a quick view of the different COVID-19 sentiments conveyed via the thought-provoking street arts.
Appreciation for the Medical and Health Care Frontliners
Banksy, an anonymous street artist in the UK, paid tribute to NHS workers and to all medical workers around the world by painting graffiti outside the Southampton Hospital in the UK. His art work came with a note expressing gratitude for the new superheroes of the world.
Banky’s mural painting, captioned “Game Changer,” shows a young boy discarding his Batman and Spirderman action figures; preferring instead to play with a hospital-nurse doll that represents a non-fiction superhero.
Amsterdam’s famous graffiti artist FAKE, expressed his admiration and gratitude to medical frontliners across the globe. He painted a mural of a nurse wearing a face mask imprinted with the iconic Superman logo. In order to spread his heartfelt gratitude worldwide, FAKE also created poster-sized prints of his “Super Nurse” street art, and anyone interested can download it free at the artist’s website.
Lampoons of Infamous Political Leaders and their COVID-19 Misstatements
UK’s Bristol street artist John D’oh took a shot at one of the most idiotic and at the same time, dangerous pronouncements of U.S. president Donald Trump. D’oh’s street art is that of the POTUS and his suggestion of injecting disinfectant as a potential protection against COVID-19. The artist added a commercial-like slogan stating: “Does a Great Number on the Lungs” – “Kills 99.9% of Americans.”
In Australia, street artist LUSHSUX painted a mural showing China’s president Xi Jinping fully geared in a yellow hazmat suit, with a deadpan facial expression as he uttered: “Nothing to see. Carry on”.
Dr. Mitman was quick to note that while the murals emerged at a time when the lockdown was strictly enforced, it is apparent that the artists and several others, had apparently came out and took risks in painting their respective graffiti art.
