By Abbie Wong and Cheryl Lai

It’s no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic has delayed many releases of media, such as movies and albums. That’s not to say it has halted all of it, with great music, movies and other media being released to online services for easy viewing. So it’s safe to say that the media took a big hit during the pandemic because of its industrialised nature. 

What about visual arts, on the other hand? Has the pandemic had a negative impact on the art community? According to Artwork Archive, artists have taken to increasing their online presence while creating and fine-tuning their skills. What relevance does this have with us, though? The RCHK House Directors have come together to bring back aRtCHK for 2021, an event in which students and staff alike come together to create an art piece with their house based around a theme.

Unfortunately, last year’s aRtCHK was postponed to the end of the school year due to the pandemic that was just starting, but aRtCHK 2019’s winners were Tang House, who created a fusion of the house mascots dubbed as “Barbara.”

Obviously, there were a few regulations put in place this year, pandemic and all. For example, those that participated in the art piece had to sanitise their hands before and after contributing their bit and the amount of people allowed to contribute it at a time was limited.

Another significant change was to competitiveness of the event, in comparison to other years. “This event is not a house competition.” Tang House Director Giuliana Colarossi stated. “It’s more about togetherness and creating a sense of unity and expression. She also followed up saying “aRtCHK has always been about students working together to present a message to an audience,” In regards to COVID-19’s impact on the event. “The message is still about unity and togetherness and working together to create something magical as a school.”

Although COVID-19 has restricted RCHK’s attendance to two year groups a day, there were still contributions from both Primary and Secondary students who were there.

“I love RCHK. I think this event is great,” said Hebe, a current Year 3 student. She and her friends contributed to the boards during their break, showing that although the event was promoted to only Secondary students, the positivity that aRtCHK 2021 spread could be felt just by seeing the chalkboards on the basketball court. 

So when we look back at this pandemic in a few years time (Hopefully), we can forget the less fun times we had cooped up at home, and remember the times we united together through school and art through aRtCHK.