LARZARETO
RHIANNA SAY

My Body of Work is about the struggles experienced worldwide due to government lockdown from the global pandemic of Covid-19.

These mental and physical battles are represented through the use of colour and symbols. The buildings displayed in my artwork are bleak and solemn, depicting the emotions felt by everyone forced to stay home with their family or even by themselves. Colour is also used to symbolise blood and illustrate the increased suicide rates from having to stay enclosed in a small habitat whilst the world moves on. 

A symbol that can be found in all five artworks are ‘eyes’, symbolising the always-watching government officials who constantly oversee our every move and restrict our mobility. Another symbol that is repeated throughout my Body of Work are ‘hands’, reaching out and bleeding as they try to escape the barriers, even though they are harmed in the process. 

As well as the visual symbols, there are also written messages using words such as ‘lockdown’, ‘help’, ‘stuck’, ‘trapped’ and ‘scared’.  

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These words are written in languages including Chinese, German, Spanish to exemplify that these lockdowns and associated mental health struggles are felt worldwide by those of us trapped inside brick walls. 

Colour also plays a major role in my artwork as I have chosen to keep my buildings and structures black and white whilst everything surrounding appears exuberant and full of life, almost teasing us from the outside that we are trapped in a bleak and meaningless space. 

The drawings that surround the buildings have all been chosen for a purpose, as they all seem locked away or impossible to get to - such as a large mountain with a rope ladder that doesn’t reach all the way to the bottom, or a barred window building that has no door. 

I choose to focus my work on mental health as I believe most people's mental health deteriorated during the pandemic. Being able to channel my frustrations and fears through artwork was something that took me away from the real world and allowed me to focus on something else.