BENGALURU: The coronavirus pandemic and lockdown has unleashed a wave of anxiety and restlessness among people from all walks of life. Many artists are now taking the medium of their choice to express the mental discomfort they are facing now. For instance, professional photographer Krishna Karthik has come up with a self-portrait series to showcase his feelings. The photographs in the series show him in a dark space, with his hands tied, looking outside the window.

The images show what he has been going through mentally, he tells CE. ‘’The lockdown has been very tough on freelancers like me, with events getting cancelled and public places getting shut. Photographers like me are living amid fear of uncertainty of employment. You don’t know when your next paycheck is coming from. I have a family to look after also, and there are responsibilities too,” says Karthik, who quit his job as an IT professional to pursue photography full time. The time he has on hand now is making him question his decision, since although he started the year on a positive note, all his plans have got stalled due to the lockdown. “I had a stable job for 11 years, with financial security. I gave up all that because I love what I do,” says the 36-year-old. 

Like Karthik, Lakshmi M Nair, who has come across a lot of questions about herself, is trying to find answers through face painting. “Earlier, I was very busy with my work and had no time to look after my life. But suddenly, I have so much of time on my hand that I can’t help but ponder over the existential questions,” say Nair, who left her career as a lawyer to be a kindergarten teacher so that she can be with her children. “I always thought that in the time of crisis it was my children who helped me get through it, but now I have discovered that it was art that was always with me. It bailed me out this time as well,” she adds. Now she is looking forward to resuming her career as a lawyer once the pandemic is over. 

One of the main reasons for the unrest that people are currently feeling is the subconscious fear seeping through them, says Megha Shankar, an expressive art therapist. “Fear of losing freedom that people were used to is taking its toll on people’s mental health. Most of the time, it is difficult to express such feelings. Art is best medium for it,” says the 27-year-old, who mostly creates music or sketches to feel better.