Nana Tedja's 'Through Pandemic' exhibition tells a grappling story of us navigating Covid-19 together.
Image: Nana Tedja
Albert Einstein once said, “All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree,” because all serve the same larger purpose of uplifting the lives of human beings. Then, it comes as no surprise that Indonesian artist Nana Tedja is tapping into the arts to give hope and encouragement to people.
Through her upcoming solo exhibition at Gallery 1819 dubbed “Through Pandemic”, she utilises her gift of creating meaningful artworks as a medium to communicate her feelings and thoughts while living under the shadows of the pandemic. There are several art pieces that are named after common phases that have now become synonymous with everyday life. These include: “Stay home with ❤️”, “Social Distance”, “Care Each Other”, “Vaccine is Happiness” and others.Take for example the artwork titled “Care Each Other”, it depicts an imagery of how people behave during this pandemic. This includes wearing masks when they are outside. And if one is unwell, the person stays at home.
Other than inspiring viewers, the artist uses her body of work to chronicle our time during this pandemic. From the initial phases where vaccines were not readily available to when vaccines are now given to a large part of the population. Life began to change and slowly, it blooms again and the excitement is captured by Nana in her painting called “Perfect Stranger”.