Performing in the pandemic: The COVID-19 chronicles of Asian mother artists

This article seeks to collect stories and make heard the voices of mother artists of Asian descent/Asia, about their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. The focus is on documenting the implications of their experiences during the pandemic, on their maternal role performance and their studio practice. Some of the points of departure proposed to the artists include disruptions in routines, re-prioritization of work, changes in durational attention given to the work before the pandemic, the psychological and physiological impact of the pandemic on individual health to impede role performance, and the impact of the challenges/changes on the sense of self/identity. At the same time there is also a curiosity about the coping mechanisms they might have sought to counter the situations. I have curated the collection of narratives by inviting Phaptawan Suwannakudt (Australia and Thailand), Nidhi Agarwal (India), Monika Lin (China and United States), Tazeen Qayyum (Canada and Pakistan) and Arisa Chinen (Japan) to share their stories. Their artistic responses will be in the form of text and image.