#MyPandemicStory: youth create portraits of a pandemic to be showcased by ROM on Oct 23
#RoyalOntarioMuseum; #MyPandemicStory; #ChildrenArtwork; #OpenFreeToPublic; #COVID19GlobalHealthCrisis
Toronto/Canadian-Media: Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) would launch an original exhibition, #MyPandemicStory: Youth Create Portraits of a Pandemic this fall on Oct 23 with a powerful presentation of children’s artwork to shine a light on youth experiences of the COVID-19 global health crisis and its impact on a generation.
This is one of the first crowd-sourced pandemic-related exhibitions worldwide to focus on children’s points of view and is open free to the public with no general admission required to the Museum.
This exhibition would be launched with a call for Ontario youth aged 4–18 to reflect on and express their experiences of the pandemic through a work of art in any medium and provided an opportunity for young people to express themselves, join a community of other young artists, and contribute to a platform for understanding how this generation has been affected by the pandemic.
Image: Ambiguity. Image credit: ROM
The callout for #MyPandemicStory art was responded by over 2,300 artworks created independently, with families, or through school projects from across the province, from as far north as Thunder Bay, east to Lancaster, and south to Windsor.
A new exhibition space created inside the doors of ROM’s Michael Lee-Chin Crystal (Bloor Street) entrance features sixty (60) of the artworks and together form a stirring portrait of the complex journeys young people have experienced during this pandemic from moments of sorrow, isolation to self-discovery, hope and delight and emphasizes the voices of youth through large-format artist quotes that highlight themes such as struggle, perseverance, and connection.
Visitors are provided seating spaces with support material o rest and reflect while a response station invites visitors to share their own responses to the pandemic and contribute to an ongoing conversation in the exhibition.
“This isn’t an art exhibition in the traditional sense,” emphasizes Justin Jennings, ROM Senior Curator of Archaeology of the Americas and curator of the #MyPandemicStory exhibition. “It’s about showcasing the art, but it’s also about showing the wide array of experiences youth have gone through in this pandemic, the depth of which touched us profoundly. #MyPandemicStory is about listening to the artists’ voices, both in their artworks and descriptions of their creative process, in order to support this generation going forward.”
Graphic illustrations by Toronto-based artist Ene Agi show seemingly ever-growing pandemic hair winding across walls and tie the exhibition space together.
The artworks represented in #MyPandemicStory were selected in collaboration between ROM staff and external advisors that included media personality and GEM Ambassador Melissa Grelo; CAMH clinical psychologist Dr. Joanna Henderson; YWHO youth ambassador Aaron Sanqui; Métis/Cree educator and principal Christina Saunders; and artist and activist Syrus Marcus Ware. Members of the COVID-19 mental health study team led by The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) consulted on the exhibition development.
#MyPandemicStory: Youth Create Portraits of a Pandemic runs from October 23, 2021, to February 21, 2022. ROM continues to operate at reduced capacity and adheres to the guidelines set out by Ontario Public Health.
Opened in 1914, Royal Ontario Museum is among the top 10 cultural institutions in North America, Canada’s largest and most comprehensive museum showcases art, culture, and nature from around the world and across all ages. Home to a world-class collection of 13 million art objects and natural history specimens, RON is featured in 40 gallery and exhibition spaces. The country’s preeminent field research institute and an international leader in new and original findings, ROM plays a vital role in advancing our understanding of the artistic, cultural and natural world. Combining its original heritage architecture with the contemporary Daniel Libeskind-designed Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, ROM serves as a national landmark, and a dynamic cultural destination in the heart of Toronto for all to enjoy.
he Museum is now open and we are delighted to welcome you back. For more details and helpful information for planning your visit, please visit www.rom.on.ca