Using Quarantine to Find Inspiration
The COVID 19 pandemic has definitely altered our day to day lives. We have transformed our in-person gatherings to virtual get-togethers. The creative youth organizations from our Adobe Creativity Grants network revamped their programming to engage their young creatives virtually and these programs have become outlet for expression and creativity in the midst of all the uncertainties. For many young creatives and organizations, this global pandemic and its social and physical restrictions became source of inspiration and creativity. We are delighted to highlight the work of the following organizations as they provided spaces for creatively exploring all unknowns as a form of well-being.
First Exposures’ (California, USA) summer 2020 mentees used their photography skills to reflect on how it feels to be living in California during the COVID 19 pandemic. The theme California Created Then — Chosen Now exhibition reminisces on life before the pandemic and explores what it feels to live in the cusp of apocalyptic times.
Similarly, the Organization for Youth Empowerment (OYE) (Honduras) facilitated summer mobile photography workshops. The young creatives developed their mobile photography skills to creatively capture and produce photographs for a series called Quarantine Through My Eyes (Cuarentena a través de mis ojos). This series provides an outlook on what life in quarantine looks like for these young creatives and their families.
One thing we have all commonly used throughout this global pandemic is hand sanitizer. Visual arts teachers from Snow City Arts (Illinois, USA) worked with their young creatives to create photo transfers using hand sanitizer. These images were then edited using Adobe Photoshop, assisting the young creatives in producing their final self-portraits. The image above was created by Monay.
At the beginning of the global pandemic, many of us were getting used to this new normal of shelter in-place and physically distant from our community. To form a sense of connection, the young creatives from Exile Room (Greece) recorded the sunsets from their homes. Using Adobe Premiere Pro, they created a compilation of their own interpretations of the shelter in place called Sunset Quarantine.
Following this same approach across the globe, SAY Sí (Texas, USA) is creating a Quaranteen Time Capsule that is inviting young creatives from San Antonio, Texas to use this time creatively (from short videos to digital illustrations and beyond) to reflect on their home environments, their family dynamics, and all the elements of their daily lives, as they continue to stay home during this global pandemic. The purpose of the time capsule to creatively capture the experiences of youth during this unique time in history.
In the midst of this global pandemic, the #BlackLivesMatter movement has been an important social issue that the Creative Crew from the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Green Bay (Wisconsin, USA) has incorporated into their creative education. This small but mighty crew have decided to take matters into their own hands and create a portable mural, while following social distancing and health guidelines. The portable #LeanOnMe mural, which is currently traveling throughout the Green Bay community, is highlighting how art and creativity can be used as a form of uncovering the veil of anti-Blackness racism and the quest for equity for all, and continuing the dialogue and action of the #BLM movement.
With the uncertainties of the COVID 19 pandemic, it’s important to continue creating spaces, even virtually, for young creatives to connect and continue to nurture their creative expression. As we navigate this new normal, creative spaces provide all of us with the opportunity to explore different mediums of expression and contribute to our overall mental and physical well-being.
TakingITGlobal and Adobe would like to acknowledge the incredible leadership of the 200+ creative youth organizations in the Adobe Creativity Grants network in spearheading why creative spaces are important and for the sense of community they have fostered during these unknown times.
