"Hold On"
“What do you want to hold on to from your Life before the Pandemic?”
Creative Art Works Asks Liberty High School Interns an essential question.
This spring, NYC students were forced to come to terms with a new definition of “normal” as schools closed and the city began to observe stay-at-home orders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite these challenges, Creative Art Works remains committed to providing Public Art Youth Employment programs, and so we partnered with Catholic Charities Alianza to develop a brand new remote graphic design apprenticeship for more than 40 of their Learning to Work Interns from Liberty High School Academy for Newcomers. Liberty High School is a small learning community that serves students of diverse cultural and academic backgrounds, including new immigrant students, as they make the transition to the American educational system.
Alisson Soumahoro
My Greatest Wish is Freedom, 2020
“Freedom is what I miss the most during this quarantine. For me, freedom means to be able to go to school, to walk outside, to go see my friend, and to do what I like without being worried about my safety and other people’s safety because of the Coronavirus.”
Our Youth Apprentices learned the principles of good design and how to combine words and pictures to create persuasive messages. They took a deep dive into photo editing and graphic design software and within a matter of weeks advanced from relative beginners to power users. Academically, the internship was a success — our Youth Apprentices were developing serious technical chops as well as basic job skills. We also gave them an opportunity to explore their feelings about the current crisis and challenged our Youth Apprentices to create posters that answer the question, "What do we want to hold on to from our lives before the pandemic?"
The answer had to be in the form of a single word in both English and the native language of each designer. YA’s were tasked with taking a self-portrait and combining it with other images that expressed and amplified their chosen word, either literally or symbolically. The results express the full range of emotions all of us have experienced while living through the PAUSE, from longing and nostalgia to hope and inspiration. Words included, friendship, family, determination, dignity, happiness, and kindness. Not surprisingly, many students chose freedom, liberty or peace.
Click here to see all “Hold On” posters with artist statements.
A virtual gallery of the final posers includes statements by each Liberty HS intern.
Even in this remote environment, CAW was committed to providing a culminating event, offering each participant an opportunity to present their work to their peers, their teachers, their friends and family, and their school community. This culminating event took the form of a Zoom meeting and a walk-through of a virtual gallery. Interns presented their work both live on-screen and via a pre-recorded video compilation.
The final posters, along with the reflections of each of the interns, have been collected on an Instagram account, @holdon_2020, and a virtual gallery on the CAW website.
During the virtual culminating event, our Liberty High School Youth Apprentices were joined by CAW and Catholic Charities Alianza staff, as well as friends and family members, including some from overseas.
“I was so glad I attended the virtual culminating event for our program at Liberty High School. I was blown away by our Youth Apprentices. The beauty of their work and their words truly moved me. I was also thrilled to see so many friends and family members join this call, even from overseas.”
Listen to what the Liberty High School Interns had to say about their work:
Alinna Diaz-Porro, CAW Teaching Artist
Christine Beckhusen, Catholic Charities Alianza Liberty High School Internship Coordinator
This Public Art Youth Employment program was made possible in part by public funds from the Manhattan Borough President’s Manhattan Community Award Program, and by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
Additional funding was provided by the Crowell & Moring Foundation, The RBC Foundation, The Sills Family Foundation.