Creativity during the lockdown
As moral runs low, and we all seek new ways to keep occupied and positive, the Sunday Times Education team spoke to an up and coming young artist, Shahdia Jamaldeen (thereal_slimshahdi), who is doing her part to keep her followers entertained through her own lock down journey.
Shahdia is an Artist and qualified Architect, who specializes in murals, digital work and fine arts along with additional projects in Architecture and Interior Design.
She has completed a number of murals and commissioned paintings for cafes, offices, retail stores and personalized residences and is currently working on her own body of work.
Her most recent feature was being part of the main line-up of artists for the Its Wella Beach Campaign and live mural art session at the iThrive Campaign for Hometree coworking and was also a featured artist at the Palagama Beach Festival 2020. Additionally, she was part of the collaboration and exhibition for Animate Her: A series of stop-motion animation films based on selected local female personalities namely Dr Asha De Vos, Archt Amila de Mel and Artist Sybil Wettasinghe
This lockdown is a double-edged sword when it comes to art-based creatives. On one hand, you now have enough time to start experimenting with techniques or ideas you never had time to do; which is something I’ve been attempting. On the other hand, you have enough time to become stuck for inspiration! Either way, I’ve always been a little insecure about my digital art skills so I’ve been keeping myself occupied by exploring my capabilities in them as well as trying to find my own take and style at the same time
During a time like this; I think a lot of the individuals (such as myself) who had intense work weeks with not enough time for self or artistic expression; have been able to slow down and smell the creative roses. I know of a number of people involved in the rat race who have now been able to shake the rust off creative skills that took a back seat before the lockdown, and I think that’s great. Art and creativity is such an open-ended, broad avenue that it allows for a non-judgemental expression of thoughts and ideas that may have been collecting dust previously. At a time like this, its given so many the chance to detox, de-stress and even explore possibilities of new directions they could take once normalcy is restored.
Art and creativity in an ideal world, a faucet that runs strong all the time. But in reality, it’s tough to keep that going especially if you usually take inspiration from your surroundings or social environment. For me, what has worked as a method to develop creativity has been the ability to watch, learn and interact with other artists, creatives and programs on social media. It has given me different perspectives to focus on, potential approaches one could take and even new techniques worth trying. So, if you’re on Instagram or any other creative platform and you’d like to chat with artists that inspire you, go ahead! Most are always willing to talk, discuss and share, either in idea or technique.
This lockdown has definitely taken a hit at a slow but steady growth I had been on. Its definitely going to take a lot of trial and error to see where the creative business stands, as a priority, once normalcy is back. Since this is unprecedented; and we’ve all taken a hit (emotionally, financially) I suppose my plans are to hit the ground running, see what the state of affairs are going to be like, and improvise.
Make the most of the current situation; be it making up lost time with your family, picking up new hobbies or skills that you left on the back burner, catching up on personal health and fitness, de-stressing before the inevitable wave of work hits.
But more than that, there has never been a more crucial time to “support local”. I urge everyone to support all the small businesses, creatives and individual entrepreneurs who will most definitely appreciate the show of confidence and backing, that is dire in such a time of uncertainty.