A Sociological Analysis of the Social Role of Female Artists during COVID-19

Abstract

During the pandemic, artists have created new works, initiated political actions and civil activism, supporting the health prevention policy with the “I stay at home” campaign, but also organizing, at a later stage, protest movements, in defence of the right to perform one’s work, broadening the criticisms to a macro vision: in defence of the environment and the weakest groups, against violence against women, increased by 30%, for aid to immigrants, in denouncing urban marginality (street art), and the depopulation of small towns. The lack of attention on the part of politics, in Italy, and in other European countries, has then generated real opposition movements, an exemplary case being the song “Danser encore,” whose lyrics expressed a protest against government-imposed restrictions, and which turned into flash mob events in many countries. The depoliticization of contemporary art, of which Yves Michaud wrote, is a past concept, because we can see artistic movements shifting towards the safeguarding of universal rights and duties, up to the latest interpretations of what justice is and how to overcome social inequalities according to the visions of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum.