Sunday, July 26, 2020

Daniel Connell's New Project COVIV 20 :Sikh Migrants During The Current Coronavirus Pandemic

Daniel Connell's New Project COVIV 20: An Aim to Make Australians More Sensitive Towards Struggles of Sikh Migrants During The Current Coronavirus Pandemic.

‘Art talks without words and can cross many boundaries, including boundaries of language’, says Adelaide-based artist Daniel Connell, who has launched a new art project titled COVIV 20 with an aim to make all Australians more sensitive towards struggles and circumstances of migrants during the current coronavirus pandemic.
 Daniel Connell working on the portrait of Darshan Nagra

“Art is a way of making people stop and pause and reflect and think about who we are living with”,  artist  tells

       Portraits of migrants made by Daniel Connell

“COVIV is obviously a play on the word COVID, and adapts the Latin words ‘co' and 'viv’, which means ‘living with’. I’ve always been concerned that people in Australia don’t understand the circumstances of the people we live with. We may be living next door to somebody, sitting on a bus next to someone or going to work with someone, without knowing the circumstances they’re living with.” 



“So I want to talk about the diversity of the people living here – not just their culture, but their life and circumstances. People in Australia on temporary visas don’t have the same access and support that permanent residents and citizens get.” 

 With support from the government of South Australia, Mr Connell has reached out to temporary visa holders and international students to share their stories about how they are negotiating the COVID 19 pandemic, as part of this audio-visual exhibition. 
This will help build a more united community for people to understand each other a bit more.

COVIV 20 will result in 14 paintings depicting stories of individuals who are not yet permanent residents. The prospective participants were asked to send three to four selfies to the artist, and the selected participants will share their stories in an audio file of up to four minutes. 

https://www.sbs.com.au/language/english/audio/coviv-20-an-art-project-to-highlight-australia-s-temporary-migrants-during-the-pandemic?

Dr.Gurdeep Kaur
Associate Professor
Sri Guru Nanak Dev Khalsa College
University of Delhi





No comments: