Paper Title
THE ROLE OFVISUAL ARTS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: LESSONS FOR COPING WITH FUTURE PANDEMICS

Abstract
Abstract - During the COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the 2019 Novel Corona virus(2019-nCoV)Pandemic(or SARS-CoV-2, many people across the world suffered psychological, economic as well as pathological trauma due to lack of adequate preparation by many governments to cope with the new reality. The health protocols to prevent the spread of this “new” disease initially albeit understandably proved to be less effective than anticipated. And as a measure to curb the spread of the pandemic, people were forced into a series of mass lockdowns, curfews, social distancing, plus other forms of disease control measures, all of which invariably affected their otherwise normal health and economic wellbeing. On the Sub-Saharan Continent in particular, and comparatively while not many of its inhabitants were as much affected by the pandemic as it was the case with those people living in countries such as the Indian Sub-Continent, China, South America, North America and much of Europe, the lives of ordinary people were fundamentally changed. This paper, therefore, examines the role played by Ugandan visual arts in the coping mechanism towards the Covid–19 Pandemic challenges in countries such as Uganda during the period between 2019 -2021. It further explores significant lessons of coping mechanism with future pandemics of similar or greater magnitude. Keywords - 2019 Novel Coro virus (2019-nCov), Pandemic, SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, Visual Arts, Sub Saharan Africa, Coping Mechanism, Future Pandemics, Covid 19, coping