Eve Kuhr Hersov

Eve’s Lockdown Story

‘This mixed media construction of an urban environment was completed during lockdown and features found objects collected from the streets and heath of NW3. Cardboard is a signifier of a period of time when many of us began to make much more use of ordering items on-line. Everything utilised except the paint and adhesive is discarded matter repurposed for creative expression. COVID-19 brought about a shutdown in certain parts of the city and an absence of people. This work aims to capture that stillness; the slowed down pace which provided many with an opportunity for growth and reflection.

Lockdown is no one thing. It has been fast and slow, stimulating and boring. Each work day has been unpredictable but also exhausting as new issues and surprising developments brought challenges in my work with people. Personally I enjoyed having skies that were quiet and free of airplanes. I liked when there was less traffic on the roads. I walked throughout Hampstead and the heath and found paths and places that I had not seen before as I tried to explore and avoid other people during my daily excursions. I viewed this time as an opportunity and early on set myself goals so that I could one day look back on this unusual event and remember what it gave me.

Creativity has always been a method for me to enter a flow state. Becoming involved in making anything is both stimulating and restful and it is a way to “switch-off” work, and go into another head space where there’s an ability to bend rules, experiment, and problem solve while using one’s brain, hands, and meditative energy. The process of “making” art is open-ended. There are no deadlines and the work cannot be rushed. It comes together in its own time and hopefully expresses something that others can also connect to and enjoy, and is a way to make sense out of a world that contains confusion, uncertainty and deception alongside of beauty, compassion and humanity.

Covid-19 gave me time to complete certain projects that needed “time” and reflection. It hasn’t changed the way I use art but it allowed my world to slow down. Having a greater sense of leisure and a need to retreat from people brought about inspiration. I felt that my senses were sharpened by the changes environmentally. I was able to hear birdsong more distinctly without street noise and the revolting leaf blowers. I had time for gardening and planting seeds, and this, too, quiets the mind and connects me to life in a manner that enriches every undertaking, whether making art or working with people.’

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