HYDERABAD: Art reveals a lot about the times lived. It influences the way we live and intuitive artists who create it, understand this. A classic example is city-based street artists Swathi and Vijay, whose artistic expression has changed during the pandemic from being rebellious to inspiring, hopeful and comforting.
According to them, times like these call for a change in expression, especially when people are exhausted by grief and numbness. “I was moved by the distress caused by the pandemic’s second wave. The artworks that questioned the government and society were even more distressing to look at,” says Vijay. People are already suffering or are watching others suffer. They need hope and inspiration, he says.
It is the time when we should take a step back and allow this phase to pass, instead of trying to conquer it with stressful philosophical and sociological questions, which are not needed at the moment, he says. “Lately, we have been giving government schools a facelift. Schools have been seeing a drop in admissions, so we decided to use our art to encourage children to attend school,” he says.
The young couple, who graduated from the Paintings Department of the Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts University, started drawing graffiti in public places across the city. Until the pandemic, their works were rebellious and made people think.