COROLLA: Waiting for Spring, United during COVID-19 outbreaks by Italian Artist Giuseppina Giordano

It’s a weird time to be an artist – or, indeed, any type of human being. All over the world, people are on lockdown in their homes until further notice. Many of us are finding we have more free time than ever before, but also have fewer opportunities for inspiration than we would like. Artists and creative practitioners who are able to create art in these circumstances, then, are worthy of celebration.

One such artist is Giuseppina Giordano, a Milan-based interdisciplinary artist whose work has been exhibited all over the world. Giordano’s latest project, ​COROLLA: Waiting for Spring, United during COVID-19 outbreaks seeks to celebrate the arrival of spring by turning the spread of COVID-19 all over the world into an opportunity to share kindness to each other. She sees us as a single human family who are delicate as flowers and united against discriminations and prejudices.

Giordano’s hope for humanity is that we will overcome this period of uncertainties and flourish everywhere despite adversity. This is the aspiration that inspired her ​COROLLA project, which exists as a series of wearable sculptures to be used in public places as extensions of the human body. The sculptures consist of long, flexible, coloured petals which are designed to help us follow social distancing rules set out by the World Health Organisation to slow down the spread of coronavirus.

COROLLA ​builds on the idea that art can make a difference as a concrete tool for peace that allows us to imagine our future together. Equipped with ​COROLLA​, people can once again move around their cities, fearless and side by side, observing safety regulations whilst transforming themselves together into a field of flowers.

Poster for COROLLA by Giuseppina Giordano. Illustration by Matteo Signorelli.