The effect of a pandemic, presently like the COVID-19 crisis, often creates for virtually everyone in our society - due to the loss of loved ones, or loss of livelihoods, as well as the contraction of our daily freedoms - trying and surreal times. Research has shown that especially the youth of our society, not only often experience immense difficulties to cope with these types of situations, but, more importantly, they are often inhibited to express and communicate their true feelings. To deal with this unfortunate constraint, the Visual Arts have proven to be an excellent outlet and contributor for comforting their inner feelings and troubling concerns.
Thus, the Art 10, 20 & 30 students of Alberta Distance Learning Centre (ADLC) were invited to voluntarily create a work of art based on the emotional effects of their own personal COVID-19 pandemic experiences. As a result, we received over 120 submissions. These artworks were created during the months of April, May & June, and consequently reflect different aspects of the art students' personal feelings and experiences due to the imposed COVID-19 conditions. Hence, please find below the link to a sampling of their emotive and poignant submissions, as well as an accompanying video. To better understand the submitted artworks, we would encourage you to first read the accompanying individual Artist Statements, which you will find below each of the artworks.
"My COVID-10 Experience"