A few words about your artistic career
My artistic journey has been filled with strong negative and positive emotions that have fuelled my desire to create art that helps people adapt positively to difficult or traumatic experiences in their lives.
How long have you been an artist?
I've been an artist ever since I learned to hold a pencil.
Why did you apply for this scholarship? How will the scholarship support you?
I've applied for a grant to give me a platform to share a message of hope in the wake of COVID-19. The grant will enable me to finance the development of my message of hope and help people to adapt positively to this new world we are living in.
What are your concrete artistic objectives after this residency?
My objectives are to build on the work I've created through the networks and audiences I've created through this residency.
What did you achieve during this creative residency? What is the result (work created)? Who was involved in the creative process?
I've managed to create the first chapter of a 2D platform game that deals with the sadness of death during the corona period. In the game, you play a little girl, Xoli, who has to cope with the loss of her parents to Covid-19. The game uses the principles of acceptance and commitment therapy, based on cognitive psychology, to help Xoli cope with sadness.
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 game acts as a mirror for all those affected by Covid-19 as we look into the world of an affected person and the emotions they feel as a result of the effects of Covid-19. It tells the user that it's normal to feel this way, but also to embrace the new normal by being aware of where we are and being able to act from there.
How did you feel during the residency? And afterwards?
At the start of the residency, I had an idea of what I wanted to create, but as production began and the characters started to make the world their own, everything I wanted to create developed. I wanted to deal with all the emotions and difficulties that Xoli was going through in one go, but as I got deeper into the therapeutic aspect of the game, it quickly became overwhelming and I realised that the best way to do this was to divide the game into chapters that dealt with the different emotions that Xoli would feel as a result of Covid 19.
[(Xoli and the World of Tomorrow
)]
[(Download the Xoli and the World of Tomorrow game application)]
