Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, artist Phlegm began to document his experiences of daily life in lockdown.
The Pandemic Diary joined the Millennium Gallery on Saturday 13th January and will be showcased until the 7th July.
The series consists of 67 pen and ink drawings, which combine the reality of the pandemic with the imaginary world of creatures he has created throughout his career to ‘consolidate that time and that collective struggle’.
Phlegm said: “The anxiety and panic at the beginning, the rise of boredom and discontent that welled up in the middle and then eventually the feeling of family and community that sprung from the cracks as things started to open up towards the end.”
The formally Sheffield-based artist normally travels and paints murals, but COVID and having a young family meant he found himself exclusively at home caring for his children.
This meant the drawings differ from his previous work as he intended the series to be ‘fast and loose’, setting a limit of one hour a day every day to document this ‘strange time’.
He said: “I found the experience very cathartic, like an hour of meditation each day.”
The Welsh-born artist published one of his drawings on his Instagram each day and found that the worries and details he noticed at home also resonated with people across the world.
The series intends to convey some of the nuances society shared including how ‘precious’ our time and family is.
Phlegm continued: “I also hope that with hindsight some of the collective madness we shared seems more obvious now. That ultimately maybe we can learn something about how a society flexes and strains under that kind of pressure.”