Publications
Sometimes boredom is exactly what you need to get your creative juices flowing.
Anna Chojnicka (35) of London discovered the art of bruising bananas and turning them into mini-masterpieces while in quarantine last year and is now garnering attention from all over the world.
Bored and isolated, Anna one day decided to run lines on a banana using a fork and the artistic way in which the fruit bruised gave her ideas.
She started simply, etching a pair of animated eyes, eyebrows a nose and a mouth into the skin of the fruit.
After a few more sketches, she drew a beautiful teapot, with tea pouring out of it into a teacup.
From then on, the Banana Bruiser – as she calls herself on Instagram – was sketching artwork after artwork, posting her works daily on social media.
“This is a bizarre symptom of the pandemic: creating banana art,” she says.
“I started doodling on a banana, I'm not sure why. I noticed that when you press into the skin of a banana it goes dark. So I don’t use a pen or a pencil to draw, I just kind of press into it with the end of a comb,” Anna explains.
She says there’s an optimum stage for the artwork – the riper the banana, the softer it is and the easier it becomes to make a blended line.
“And then for the very detailed parts I have quite a fine point I use to do more intricate designs,” she adds.
It helps her be in the present and is calming and therapeutic, Anna says.
She’s sketched portraits of late singer Amy Winehouse, environmental activist Greta Thunberg, cartoon characters such as Homer Simpson and even advocates for social justice causes like women empowerment and anti-police brutality campaigns through her artwork.
Anna works in social entrepreneurship, and with the help of her social media followers, she managed to raise almost £1 157 (R23 000) for a charity that provides food to people in need in the UK.
She’s also hosted a workshop for a charity that supports elderly community members who are often in isolation and suffer from loneliness.
The good news: she eats every single banana once she’s taken a photo of the art, so no food goes to waste. And there we were, simply using bananas to make banana bread.
SOURCES: washingtonpost.com, youtube.com, odditycentral.com, justgiving.com
