Corona virus shape used to spread hope beauty kindness love
Right at this moment, as the world is coming to a standstill with the COVID 19 pandemic with fear, uncertainty and dread grasping mankind, hundreds of artists are standing up as a part of an initiative called #GoViralToStopTheVirus to fight the atmosphere of paranoia and depression. Their weapon is the most unique aspect of the virus.
An artwork by Neetika Maitra
Its shape. A round base, with uneven spikes around it.
An artwork by Arindam Dey
An artwork by Dipak Roy
This shape which was spreading death and misery in world is surprisingly being given a positive twist. In this one of a kind initiative, the shape of the virus is being used to spread hope, beauty, kindness and art.
An artwork by Kamruzzaman John
Uttaran Chaudhuri from Kolkata, the founder of #GoViralToStopTheVirus said, ‘It was initially a difficult concept for people to grasp. A symbol associated with diseases, be it HIV or Cholera, is considered evil and is treated like an enemy. It is natural for artists and creative communicators to create awareness campaigns against it by showing the shape as a bomb, trap, or a demon which is to be avoided or fought with bravery. This is where, comes the real beauty of this campaign. The uniqueness of this one-of-a-kind awareness initiative is. Artists are asked to use the shape of the virus, to spread a positive message through their art.’
An artwork by Manas Adhikari
The movement began just seven days ago, and right now the internet is being taken by a storm of hundreds of positive corona art posts every day. The shape of the virus is being used to suggest sharing, listening to bird songs, trying out hobbies, listening to music, trying kindness, positive dressing, reading books, cuddling a pet, spending time with children, doing yoga, writing novels, creating art, reaching out to the needy, solving puzzles and countless other positive things one can do during the quarantine to keep themselves happy.
An artwork by Partha Dasgupta
An advertising proffesional himself, Uttaran created some initial posts using ‘forks and spoons’ sticking out from around a sphere. ‘It definitely looked like the virus, but it was hilariously colourful and connoted kindness, carrying a message: ‘Let kindness go viral. Don’t hoard. Share food with the needy. I decided, I will share it on Facebook and nominate friends, asking them to create their versions.’
An artwork by Samrat Ghosh
An artwork by Prasenjit Bera
In a matter of days, the movement gained momentum. As eminent award winning art directors like Prasenjit Bera, Biswarup Nath, Siddhartha Sankar Roy, Ranjan Show and Subhrakanti Mondal began creating positive art ‘posters’ on Facebook, artists started to take notice. Posts from junior artists like Gaurab Jana to seniors like Lalit Maity, grapic novelists Harsho Mohan Chattoraj to cover artist Chiranjit Samanta, Sourish Mitra, Aniket Mitra, Hiran Mitra, Partha Dasgupta, Uday Deb and Upal Sengupta of Chandrabindoo fame were shared endlessly. Right now posts are being created by IT personnel,graphic designers, novelists, poets like Sambit Basu and even housewives. There are posts created with fingerprints, posts created with embriodery, legos, posters created with lentils and spices, child art, motion posters, GIFs, digital art, art installations, typography, folk art and also, craft.
An artwork by Sayaan Mukherjee
An artwork by Biswarup Nath
‘In the last 5 days the artists have created over two fifty positive posters. And over fifty to sixty posters are being uploaded as we speak.’ Says Uttaran, ‘Every day I interact with artists and art directors from across India, clarifying ideas, working on connecting headlines and mostly explaining the concept of ‘positive’ posters. ‘We are rapidly expanding to art schools in Hungary and New York. And we are getting a huge response from the rest of the Indian cities as we are translating the posts.’
An artwork by Sourish Mitra
#GoViralToStopTheViral aims to continue infecting the world with positivity, till the shape of the virus, a symbol of despair, turns into a flower, a symbol of hope or maybe a Sun- A symbol of a new beginning.
