Art in Quarantine: Why Expression Prevents Potential Depression

Written by: Nandiinii Gupta

​​In times like these, the necessity for expression is becoming greater by the day. The only
refuge people are finding is in practicing different arts and crafts. This isn’t limited to
traditional artists who are creating masterpieces with their brushes and colors. It extends way
beyond that:

People who are still creating music, who are writing, singing, dancing, cooking, baking, all of
them are artists. Everyone who has binge watched Netflix or Amazon, who has binge-read
novels and fanfictions, they have all done so because of their dependence on the arts to keep
their minds fresh and their sanity intact during a time where it is easy to slip into depression
and exhaust oneself mentally.

This entire year has seen a drastic shift in the mindsets of the people, especially with the
collective understanding of what is important and essential. General consensus expresses very
emphatically the importance of human life, the realization that humankind has never been
more vulnerable and that every aspect of being human is temporary, save for those that evoke
emotions.

It discards the idea of a progressive economy for the safety of its members- ironically, should
this concern have been acted upon earlier, we wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place.
But since we cannot undo it, we must make the best of it.

The arts have always been an inherent comfort zone for people. It’s been rightly said by
Christo- “The work of art is a scream of freedom.” It seems astonishingly befitting, as if
tailored for this very circumstance that we’re all in. Lockdown, quarantine, social-distancing:
they may be essential measures for individual well-being but simultaneously, they are all
colored in the fine print of restraints and restriction.

While we’re all physically staying inside, willfully curtailing our own freedom, we are also
subject to caging our mind from the stimulation it receives in the outdoors.
It is that freedom, the mental barriers, that we are all looking to tear down because it is these
barriers that are actively becoming detrimental to society as of now. And thus, we turn to art.
The lacunae in our hearts are being temporarily sealed by the Internet- which has no shortage
of art.

You can read and reread words for as long as you want, till it gives you relief, till it makes
you feel, till it makes you numb enough to not feel. And you can play the same song or
playlist or notes, over and over and over, till you achieve the state of mind you need.
The most beautiful part of feelings evoked by creativity is that it always gives you a will to
act upon, a sudden strange urge to do something, be somewhere or become someone. Most
often, it makes you want to change the world, makes you want to run home to wherever you
want to call home. It makes you want to become not a different human being but just an
enhanced ideal of yourself.

You see, art has the capacity to make you feel accepted- it doesn’t matter who you are,
there’s always something that strikes a chord in someone.

Previously, art and artists had been mercilessly taken for granted; scoffed at, for not being
“real careers” or “real professions.” Now, without these very people, these amazing artists, it
would take the world very little time to let go of their rationality and sanity. It is imperative,
that they should be given the status in society that they deserve: saviors.

Humanity has an impeccable skill to survive, but art- art is what gives us the innate capacity
to thrive. It is what differentiates us from the other inhabitants of the planet- the ability to
recognize beauty and shape it so it makes the world a better place than when it was found. It
is what lets us hope, and as of now, hope is the only thing we can expect abundance of.
​
I hold no glorious expectations from the world once this pandemic is over, rather, I am not
expecting normalcy any time soon. But I just hope, that once we are all able to step out of our
homes, with our safety secured, the world is able to appreciate art- that the backdrop of our
survival takes center stage and is given all due respect, love and encouragement.
And I hope that we realize that keeping humanity in humankind intact is the work of art, and
this scream of freedom and liberation, it is what we live for.