ALKE SCHMIDT
Visual artist
Pandemic Spring
Pandemic Spring is a visual diary of the Coronavirus pandemic, inspired by the contrast between the grim record of coronavirus cases and deaths and the beautiful, life-affirming signs of spring everywhere in nature.
Each work consists of a watercolour & pencil drawing (and a few collages) on top of an A4 printout of graphs showing total confirmed coronavirus cases and deaths in 8 countries on the day of the drawing.
The source of the graphs was coronavirusgraphs.com (now offline) which used data from John Hopkins CSSE.
All the way through April Alke did daily drawings as part of 12o Collective's 30Works30Days challenge. She then continued the diary on a weekly basis until 21 June, the first day of summer.
The full Pandemic Spring diary was exhibited at PontArte Gallery, Maastricht from 7 November to 12 December 2020, alongside with Alke's earlier visual diary, Birds of America (2010/12).
A set of postcards showing 20 pages of the diary is available from the artist (shipment to UK) or the PontArte online shop (all other destinations).
Watercolour & pencil on printout of graphs showing total confirmed coronavirus cases & deaths in 9 countries as of 21 June 6 AM - Private Collection -
Watercolour & pencil on printout of graphs showing total confirmed coronavirus cases & deaths in 9 countries as of 20 June 6 AM - Private collection -
Watercolour & pencil on printout of graphs showing total confirmed coronavirus cases & deaths in 9 countries as of 14 June 6 AM - Private collection -
Watercolour & pencil on printout of graphs showing total confirmed coronavirus cases & deaths in 9 countries as of 7 June 6 AM - Private collection -
Watercolour & pencil on printout of graphs showing total confirmed coronavirus cases & deaths in 9 countries as of 31 May 6 AM - Private collection -
Digital collage of artist's photo and printout of graphs showing total confirmed coronavirus cases & deaths in 9 countries as of 27 May 2020 6 AM Edition of 15
Watercolour & pencil on printout of graphs showing total confirmed coronavirus cases & deaths in 9 countries as of 23 May 6 AM - Private collection -
Watercolour & pencil on printout of graphs showing total confirmed coronavirus cases & deaths in 8 countries as of 16 May 6 AM - Private collection -
Watercolour & pencil on printout of graphs showing total confirmed coronavirus cases & deaths in 8 countries as of 9 May 6 AM - Private collection -
Watercolour & pencil on printout of graphs showing total confirmed coronavirus cases & deaths in 8 countries as of 4 May 6 AM - Private collection -
Watercolour & pencil on printout of graphs showing total confirmed coronavirus cases & deaths in 8 countries as of 30 April 6 AM - Private collection -
Watercolour & pencil on printout of graphs showing total confirmed coronavirus cases & deaths in 8 countries as of 29 April 6 AM - Private collection -
Digital collage of William Morris' 1875 Tulip design and printout of graphs showing total confirmed coronavirus cases & deaths in 8 countries as of 3 April 6 AM Edition of 15
Watercolour & pencil on printout of graphs showing total confirmed coronavirus cases & deaths in 8 countries as of 27 April 6 AM - Private collection -
Watercolour & pencil on printout of graphs showing total confirmed coronavirus cases & deaths in 8 countries as of 26 April 6 AM - Private collection -
Watercolour & pencil on printout of graphs showing total confirmed coronavirus cases & deaths in 8 countries as of 25 April 6 AM - Private collection -
Watercolour & pencil on printout of graphs showing total confirmed coronavirus cases & deaths in 8 countries as of 24 April 6 AM - Private collection -
Digital collage of embroidery done by the artist's mother and graphs showing total confirmed coronavirus cases & deaths in 8 countries as of 22 April 6 AM Edition of 15
Watercolour & pencil on printout of graphs showing total confirmed coronavirus cases & deaths in 8 countries as of 21 April 6 AM
Watercolour & pencil on printout of graphs showing total confirmed coronavirus cases & deaths in 8 countries as of 20 April 6 AM - Private collection -