During the pandemic, a lot of us turned to Art as a release of emotions at the time of being isolated from everybody. A young artist by profession from Bengaluru Pooja Sreenivasan shared her journey as an Artist during the lockdown of 2020. She sheds light upon her journey as an Artist experiencing a tough phase but at the same time being able to reach out to a larger audience.
Credits: Dhanush
Pooja said, “My art was starting to pick up a lot towards the second half of 2019. I started to receive a lot of offers and pop-up sales around the same time but as 2020 came about due to the pandemic everything shut down. Initially, when the lockdown happened it bothered me, I felt like if I have a break now then I won’t be able to get back to doing great things. There was this feeling that people would forget me and I wouldn’t be invited for more sales or interviews. It was overwhelming and I was freaking out a lot because I expected the pandemic to kind of end towards the end of the lockdown but it kept getting pushed.”
However, Pooja found solace when, fortunately, a lot of organisations moved online. “It assured me some way that I could navigate my path through the online platforms. At the end of the day, I am a digital artist so most of what I kept doing eventually ended up on social media especially on Instagram,” she added.
Pooja shared that the lockdown gave her clarity about accessing online platforms and the pandemic affirmed that one could do anything and it doesn’t make anything online less valid.
She mentioned the online platforms being an easily accessible space for Artists and added, “I was doing quite some workshops from December 2019, one thing I noticed at these places is that there is a lot of elitism involved. Only a few people could access and the prices were super high. It was a very good source of income as an Artist for me but once the pandemic happened you couldn’t come in contact with other people and it provided an opportunity to many people. That’s when I saw other organisations taking these workshops online and I thought of doing one too.”
Pooja expressed that these online workshops weren’t that easy and that after doing one workshop she noticed a stark difference in the way online and offline events are conducted for Artists. “When you are doing these things offline it is very easy to assign tasks to the people who attend these workshops and be in touch with the person about the work. But when the same thing shifts online there is a lack of feedback and it is literally like talking to a wall,” she said.
She added that such online workshops eventually end up being more theoretical especially with art since is no much practical knowledge can be imparted online. “It was challenging for me because I had to put in more effort to fill up the two hours with valuable information without making it boring and making the people feel it wasn’t a waste of time,” said Pooja.
She shared, “I did only one online workshop during the lockdown because I was a little skeptical and it was taxing to do. I thought of doing one now but since in India the lockdown is easing for no good reason, I think a lot of organisations that conduct workshops want to do it in person because it is a better source of revenue than conducting online workshops. But I am not comfortable yet doing an offline workshop considering the situation.”
Pooja mentioned that she noticed during the pandemic people became more inclined towards art since everyone was isolating most people went back to doing art and started making efforts in learning music, art, or any form of entertainment.
“I realised more people also started to spend more time on social media. It was literally like the place to be active and my engagement on Instagram increased a lot and gained a lot more followers during the pandemic,” she said.
There were a lot of opportunities lined up for this Artist before the lockdown, but after the pandemic, everything shifted online. Pooja said, “We are in this weird middle ground where things are happening online as well as offline which is great since it works out both ways for me. Also, because of the pandemic, I gained more confidence to build my space online at the same time retain my place offline.”
Currently, a lot of events are happening where people have asked Pooja to put up stalls and sell her digital art but she feels it's risky even though people are excited about going outdoors again.
Reflecting on her journey during the lockdown Pooja added, “In terms of skill, ideas and concepts I feel I have improved a lot as an artist. Being in isolation, affected me mentally so I wasn’t creating as much artwork as I normally would do. Channelling out content reduced towards the end of last year. Initially, it made me feel worse, but this year somehow, I have picked myself up.”
Pooja shared that she was still drawing but wasn’t posting anything online. She said, “Eventually social media platforms consumed me and I got tired since it started to get into my head. I did take a break from social media for some time last year. It was good I did take a break because it made me reconnect to why I started drawing.”
In terms of understanding herself as an Artist in the market, Pooja expressed that she still has a long way to go because she is very new to this. She concluded, “Before the pandemic happened one of my art pieces were to be exhibited in Lithuania. They had to shut it down due to the pandemic and I was a little worried since it was my first international exhibition. However, they are bringing it back this year, and because of everything that has happened, I have lost interest in the whole idea of it. It is a sad trajectory to have but I think this blurring of the line between online and offline opportunities has given a better clarity as to what I want to do.”
Listen to Pooja's tale here:
Credits: Ananya Mariam Rajesh
This is an exhausting change and one cannot forget how it must've affected the artists! Very informative!