Periodic Elements of Lockdown by Liza Campbell

Print 'Periodic Elements of Lockdown' by Liza Campbell, 2020. Artist's Proof (of an edition of 30 and 1 AP). Supposedly released by the ‘Ministry for Scientific Research for institutions of empirical yearning’, the print uses the form of Dmitri Mendeleev’s periodic table in a rainbow of colours to highlight common experiences during the first Coronavirus lockdown of 2020.

Campbell’s print takes a witty approach to chronicling the first Covid-19 lockdown in the UK. The artist uses the visual template of the periodic table to create a record of common features and experiences ranging from PPE and ‘flatten the curve’ to Zoom calls and television shows. She demonstrates the enduring significance of the periodic table in popular culture while creating a snapshot of a period of the coronavirus pandemic. It continues a series of artistic and visual responses to the pandemic, acquired for the SMG collections, that focus on social and cultural impacts hard to capture elsewhere. It also represents the significance of the periodic table in popular culture, using a ‘retro’ 1950s design popular in other recently marketed consumer items, from mugs to notebooks.

In this work Campbell builds on an acclaimed series of existing ‘Periodic Elements prints’ that consider aspects of contemporary society, such as ‘family strife’ and ‘tribes’. Previous prints have been produced by the ‘Ministry for Scientific Research for institutions of empirical learning’, which Campbell here subtly changes to ‘yearning’ evoking the sense of loss and hope jointly engendered by the pandemic. The rainbow of colours used for the chemical elements evokes those drawn by children and put in windows for NHS workers, as explained by the text ‘Rainbows of gratitude for all our medics’. Each element has been replaced by a feature of lockdown, combining medical, political, economic and social history.

Figures named include Li Wenliang – the doctor who tried to raise the alarm about Covid-19 in Wuhan and later died of the illness, Jacinda Ardern – Prime Minister of New Zealand, who acted quickly and effectively to reduce cases in the country, Dr Fauci – leading member of the US White House Coronavirus Task Force, and Joe Exotic – star of Netflix series 'Tiger King' which became popular during the pandemic. Poignantly, one element is replaced by Captain Tom Moore who raised millions for the NHS by walking around his garden in the lead up to his 100th birthday, received a knighthood from the Queen and subsequently died of Covid-19 in early 2021. Other elements feature symptoms or public health concerns of the virus – cough, face masks, smell loss, social distance; key events or geographical locations – Guyaquil, Bergamo, Yemen Ceasefire; or social and economic impacts – furlough, relentless baking, zoom romance, neighbourliness.

Campbell is a London-based printmaker who trained at Chelsea College of Arts. Her work plays with iconography and historic visual forms, both reworking historic prints and photographs, and adopting iconic formats like the periodic table, world map, or cross-stitch sampler. Periodic Elements of Lockdown is exemplary of her witty and subversive approach to the visual. In taking the form of the Periodic table to comment on the Covid-19 lockdown, and altering her use of the ‘Ministry for Scientific Research for institutions of empirical learning’ she also seems to comment subtly on the UK government’s emphasis on following ‘the science’ throughout the pandemic, with varying commitment to acting on the advice of its scientific advisors.