Sarah Abdin
The Chinese authorities confirmed that the new virus of the Corona strain can be transmitted between humans, as it announced the infection of 15 health workers, and the death of the sixth infected case, and the National Health Committee said that the number of confirmed cases of infection in China rose until last Monday to 291, of whom about 270 In Hubei Province and its capital, Wuhan, with a population of 11 million.
In the midst of the great prevalence of many diseases and epidemics, we recall that art is always inspired by what happens in its social and cultural context, as the arts cannot be separated from life and the major events that occur in it, whether it is wars, natural disasters, or the spread of disease or an epidemic.
Plague and Gothic Art
Among the epidemics that spread widely and greatly affected the arts in their time, the plague that spread in Europe between the late 14th and 17th centuries, and its widespread impact on European culture, and led to the death of nearly a third of the European population.
At the time, the idea of the end of the world captured art, and symbols of death, despair and sadness appeared in all aspects of culture and "Gothic art" (a type of medieval art that developed in France during the 12th century AD), bringing dark environments to visual arts, music and literature, and aroused Shocking the imagination of painters in grim ways for decades.
In addition, a sense of the imminence of death has created the obsession of seeking salvation among many artists, whether personal salvation or salvation through the spiritual enlightenment of the masses. Examples include the mural "St. Gregory Procession" which is currently displayed in the Church of St. Peter in Rome.
The painting tells of the most important event of that time, when Pope Gregory I called on all residents to move to the Santa Maria area for official prayers to draw near to God, in order to pardon and end the epidemics that ravaged the city.
St. Gregory appears at the top of the plate ordering the march, at the foot of the stairs to the left is a multi-sect procession led by the Pope.
AIDS in the visual arts
While the plague epidemic was the greatest obsession in the Middle Ages, AIDS remained the fearful obsession in modern day diseases, which spread in the United States during the eighties of the last century, and its spread inspired many artists to produce paintings, posters and artworks in that era, covering the feeling of grief and suffering nationwide .
The first work is a poster designed by American artist Donald Moffitt on the anniversary of the death of his friend Diego Lopez, and the poster bears a picture of then-President Ronald Reagan, with the phrase "he kills me", referring to the politicians' accusation clearly, because despite the intensification The AIDS crisis at the time, the US administration did not respond effectively to the disease.
Keith Haring and AIDS
The name of the artist Keith Haring is associated with the AIDS epidemic, not only because he was among the most famous with the disease, but because he made AIDS a common theme in most of his paintings. And given that this disease eventually claimed his life, we find it terrifying to try to dismantle his fears and concerns about the disease on canvas.
Haring wrote in his 1987 diary, before he was diagnosed with the disease: "I'm not really afraid of AIDS, I'm afraid of seeing more people die in front of me. If the time comes I think suicide is much more dignified and easier for friends and loved ones, no one deserves to watch this Kind of slow death. "
In the years before his death due to the complications of AIDS in 1990, Haring produced an unusual number of paintings inspired by this epidemic, where he painted his paintings in a simple style, and used his famous character that he devised and drew at the beginning of his career in the New York subway.
Haring intended simplicity in his paintings to be more accessible to the largest audience, and his method has proven effective in recognizing and responding to the AIDS crisis.