Artwork > Translations > connected art reflecting empathy (c.a.r.e.)
Outdoor Friends
Link 1: "Outdoor Friends" submitted by Yael (age 10)
Link 2: Join Us, latex balloons, submitted by Sara Krakauer
Artist Reflection: I love that balloon twisting gives me opportunities to make people smile. The best part is the improvisation of creating art right in front of other people, based on their creative requests. During the pandemic, I'm not able to twist at parties, so I wanted to create public art that people could experience as they walked through the park on this chilly gray day. Strangers can sit on the bench with these "outdoor friends" and get close, since there's no chance that balloon people have Covid.
Link 3: Celebrating Anyway, Collage & Pastel on Paper, submitted by Sarah Berry
Artist Reflection: Our family welcomed a daughter in March, 2020, one week before the lockdowns to prevent the spread of Covid-19 began. People brought us meals to support us, but waved from afar. Many more of our loved ones have not been able to meet our daughter, even one year later. Celebrating during these times means the joy is there, and so is the distance and the absence. I love the balloons in the link before mine and wanted to continue with this imagery; balloons are a colorful representation of much needed fun and levity! May we always have reasons to celebrate, and ways to do so safely.
Link 4: Poem In Which I Use Rhyme To Try to Make Sense of the World, poem submitted by Kasha Martin
Artist Reflection: The title “Celebrate Anyway” and the optimism of the collage got me thinking about what we’ve each gone through during the past year: the effort to cultivate hope and optimism within ourselves, while the outside world has been a place of uncertainty and risk, and the juxtaposition of those polarities. The word “anyway” brought up a rhyme pattern that served as my guidepost into the poem.
Link 5: Nine to five, photograph submitted by Karin Sharav-Zalkind
Artist Reflection: This photograph is from a collection of images I’m working on that is documenting the current state of the office during the pandemic. The poem evoked a sense of all the signs that are around us. When I took the photo it was the first time I was in an elevator with both security cameras and pandemic 6’ signs. I felt a sense of shock and awe as how basic day-to-day events became new and sad and layered with a whole bag of emotion.
Link 6: “Floating through Life” submitted by Roz Garber
Artist Reflection: In viewing the photo, I found a calmness, a peacefulness, especially during these challenging times. We have all become dependent on the computer for our communication with our friends and family, but this photo felt releasing and freeing, which is hopefully what our lives will become.
Note: This chain was started with a submitted community response to the prompt: How have you cared for others or how others have cared for you during these challenging times? The artists did NOT see the reflections written by the previous artist, only the image of the work and the title. The reflections were revealed only when the chain was complete. The six links in the chain are intended to offer a creative way to connect and offset the six feet of physical distance we need to keep from each other in order to care for each other.
Feeling inspired? Create your own artistic response to this chain and share on instagram #translationsart.