**A few words about your artistic career
My artistic journey began in 2016 when I was inspired by the beauty and art that existed in the community I lived in. The beauty was in the people and their activities, so I decided to start documenting their stories to share with the rest of the world. these stories in photos.
How long have you been an artist?
I've been an artist for five years now, I started working professionally in 2016.
Why did you apply for this scholarship? How will the scholarship support you?
I applied for this grant to enable me to document the lives of children in my community during the covid-19 pandemic in order to raise awareness of their rights. The grant will make it easier for me to travel in the community and will fund any filming props that may be needed in the filming and photographic documentation process.
What are your concrete artistic objectives after this residency?
My artistic aim after the residency is to establish a dialogue about children's rights with community leaders and to create more opportunities to create informative photographic stories in the future.
What did you achieve during this creative residency? What is the result (work created)? Who was involved in the creative process?
The "Creativity is Life" grant was used for various activities that enabled me to create and develop the short film and final documentary entitled "LEFT BEHIND BUT NOT FORGOTTEN". It focuses on the plight of children in my community during the outbreak of the COVID 19 pandemic. The process of creating the short inevitably allowed me to engage more deeply with community leaders, listening to them highlight the challenges children faced during the COVID 19 pandemic and also devising practical and sustainable solutions to these challenges, an achievement that this residency made possible.
The process of creating the short film enabled me to engage the health workers at the community health centre about the poor health of children in the community as a direct consequence of the COVID 19 pandemic. This engagement led community members and leaders to organise a small medical camp at the health centre where over forty children received free flu treatment. Coughs, malaria and deworming were also treated, a sign that steps were being taken to change this disastrous situation.
I also involved parents from the community, particularly mothers, who shared their stories and also suggested measures that could be taken to improve the livelihoods of children in my community.
How do you think these activities help us to think about the world today, in relation to the COVID-19 crisis, and/or about building for the future?
The dialogue, advocacy and lobbying for children's rights through photography and video documentation, which have been the main elements of my residency project, highlight the possibility of using art as a tool to engage political and community leaders on the issues that have affected communities during this COVID 19 pandemic. And through such engagement, real practical and sustainable solutions can be developed through the process of dialogue to positively impact the lives of people in African communities during the outbreak of the COVID 19 pandemic.
These activities also show that art and community are inseparable. Art can be used to represent community challenges and advocate for the better, but communities are also a rich source for artists to create amazing work that could become a form of livelihood for artists, a cordial and mutual relationship that would positively shape the future of communities around the world during the COVID 19 pandemic.
How did you feel during the residency? And afterwards?
The residency made me feel compassion, especially towards the children I was documenting. It made me realise that there is still a lot to be done in the areas of children's health and education, and that we have to start with ourselves as artists, telling stories that can have an impact on these children's lives.
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Left Behind but not Forgotten
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