“Creativity in the Time of COVID-19: Art as a Tool for Combating Injustice and Inequality” is a project funded by the Arthur W. Mellon Foundation’s Just Futures Initiative. I am contributing to scholarly research, art and media projects, and community organizing as the co-director of a subaward based at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
Starting in March of 2020, I have been collaborating on an oral history of the coronavirus pandemic and racial justice movements in St. Louis, with a focus on the voices of healthcare workers, first responders, the ill and immunocompromised, COVID-19 survivors, and individuals who have been disproportionately affected by the health and economic effects of the pandemic. This oral history will soon be made available on digital media platforms.
With a team of undergraduate students, I helped develop “Grounded: A Pandemic Archive,” which invites individuals to submit physical objects, or photos of objects, alongside brief audio recordings telling the stories of these objects and how they have gained or lost personal meaning during the pandemic and racial justice protests. Objects and stories will be collected in an online database and displayed in a public-facing website and physical exhibition.
In collaboration with the larger grant team, I have assisted with the distribution of a creativity survey and call for artwork, which invites participants to share stories, images, and objects that show how they had to “get creative” during the pandemic. We are now actively working to partner with local community organizations to gather, analyze, and exhibit art and creative work from individuals in St. Louis, Ferguson, and other nearby communities, with a focus on the intersection of health, illness, and race, and examining how art and artmaking are used as tools to combat injustice and inequality.
