My name is Dani, I am a 24 year old visual artist from Tacoma, Washington.

At the start of the pandemic I was living in Chile: teaching English, speaking Spanish, learning how to tattoo, and falling in love. My goal was to make myself a permanent resident and work in the field of international education & meaningful travel.

Unfortunately I felt forced to come home due to the uncertainty of it all: at the time, I didn't know how bad the virus would be and I was afraid to be away from my family.

Fast forward to living at home for the last 6 months. My career in international education has become more exceedingly difficult to enter and I might have to accept a temporary hold on this dream. It is a hard pill to swallow given that I was just getting started in the right direction. However, it is not without its silver linings.

Since lockdown, a new sense of creativity has been flowing out of me and it hasn't slowed down. I faced my hesitation of trying digital art and ended up really enjoying it! Now, I have been expressing myself with mixed media and simple animation. I love combining paintings and photographs with digital interventions in order to bring them to life.

In my household I live among 2 family members with severe anxiety and depression as well as OCD, such mental health challenges that have deepened during the pandemic. This said, I try to protect my mental health at all costs in order to be a stable figure for my Dad and my brother. Making art is key in this effort because it takes me to a space of whimsy and serenity when I need to escape. I hope that my work can give others the same reprise.

Graduating college during a pandemic has been nothing short of tumultuous. I’m lucky to have a family home to return to while I navigate my short- and long-term future.

I’ve had my fair share of unmotivated, miserable quarantine days. My natural extroverted nature caused me to feel loneliness like never before. I was sucked into a hole of Twitter doomscrolling, hours of terrifying news reports, and the constant internal pressure of hunting for job openings that simply were not there. My hopes of working as a video editor grew slim as productions postponed for the year and creative friends flew to further corners of the world.

Slowly, I adapted. I started by crafting small projects all alone: my first animation, art collaging in a notebook, product photography for my Depop shop. Then I reached out to my community: my dad needed an introductory video for his new job, the bakery I work at asked for social media content, a digital Gen-Z magazine called Haloscope accepted me as a film writer. By first focusing on personal expansion, I was able to take back creative control and overcome pandemic isolation.

Being in lockdown has been taxing. I already suffer from anxiety and germaphobia, so this pandemic was bad news from the start. But what I’ve learned this year and will continue to practice is the value of social outreach. From gathering support from old classmates for the renaming of my high school in honor of our late first Black principal Dr. Derrick Nelson to promoting local BLM resources and small business efforts, I have utilized my social media platforms like never before.

English:
My name is Sarmad, I’m from Erbil, Iraq and currently living in Istanbul. I’m an artist, it’s my hobby and my profession, I do digital art most of the time, with COVID-19 my daily routine has changed, since I was going to the production company I work in, but with the pandemic I spend all my time drawing and writing at home.
I wasn’t going out that much. I like to work from home, but this helped me organize my time and see my family more, it was easy for me to adjust, not going out and seeing my friends, I want to be alone while I’m working, I can be more creative this way, so it was an opportunity for me to level up my drawing skills, trying new things, writing more stories, making up all that lost time by working extra, drawing my comics and learning more about 2D and 3D animation.
One positive point is that I know I can work more than I did before, so when this pandemic ends I should continue and always learn new things and improve, drawing and writing are a never ending experience for me, so I’m grateful because the work I do for a living is also my hobby, I find this as a bonus and an advantage.
 I set a plan when the lockdown began, that I should be someone else when this pandemic ends, that I should be better at drawing and writing, and start working on things I’ve delayed for a long time, I think I did a good job and I hope I can continue this way.

Arabic:
أنا سرمد, ولدت وعشت في اربيل,عراق وحاليا أعيش في اسطنبول, هوايتي هي الرسم وهو أيضاً عملي, غالباً أعمل كرسّام رقمي. مع قدوم فايروس كوفيد-19 تغير روتيني اليومي وطريقة حياتي قليلاً, كنت أذهب لشركة الانتاج التي أعمل بها لكن الآن أقضي جميع وقتي أرسم وأكتب في البيت.
أحب العمل في البيت لذلك لم أكن أخرج كثيرا حتى قبل الحجر الصحي, لكن الحجر ساعدني على تنظيم وقتي وأصبحت أقضي أوقاتاً أكثر مع عائلتي, لم يكن من الصعب علي التأقلم على هذا الوضع, عدم الخروج من البيت وعدم رؤية أصدقائي لأنني معتاد على العمل وحيداً, أشعر بأنني أبدع أكثر عندما أعمل وحيداً بعيداً عن الضجيج, لذا الحجر كان بمثابة فرصة لي لأتحسن أكثر في الرسم وأجرب أشياء جديدة, أكتب المزيد من القصص, ولأعوض الوقت الذي أهدرته, وساعدني لكتابة ورسم قصصي المصورة, وأتعلم أكثر عن التحريك الثنائي والثلاثي الأبعاد.
ومن النقاط الأيجابية للحجر, تعلمت بأنني قادر على العمل أكثر مما كنت أعمل من قبل, لذلك يجب علي الاستمرار هكذا حتى عندما ينتهي وقت الحجر الصحي وأسعى للمزيد وأطوّر مهاراتي باستمرار, أنا ممتن لأن عملي هو هوايتي, أشعر بأنها أفضلية ويجب علي استغلالها, لأنني لا أشعر بالممل عند كتابتي للقصص أو عندما أرسم, لذلك هي تجربة ممتعة لا حدود لها بالنسبة لي.
عندما بدأ وقت الحجر الصحي, وضعت خطة عمل وأخبرت نفسي بأن يجب عليّ أن أكون شخصاً آخر عند انتهاء الحجر, يجب أن أكون رساماً وكاتباً أفضل بكثير, وأبدا العمل على الأشياء التي كنت أهملها لوقت طويل. أشعر بأنني أنجزت أمورأ أفضل, وأنوي
على الاستمرار هكذا.

من ناوم سەرمەدە لە شاری هەولێری وڵاتی عیراق لەدایکبوومه  وە لە ێیستادا لە ئەستەنبول دەژێم خولیای وێنه کێشینم هەیە و لەهەمان کاتیشدا کاری منه لەزۆری کاتەکانم وێنەی دیجیتال دەکێشم لەگەل هاتنی  ڤایرۆسی كۆڤید-19 رۆتینی رۆژانەم گۆڕا ئەرۆیشتم بو کۆمپانیای پرودەکشن که کارم تێیدا ئەکرد بەڵام له ئێستادا زوربەی کاتەکانم له ماڵ بەسەردەبم.