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Youth in Lockdown Gallery
In partnership with the Oxford is my Home Project by Oxford Poetry Library and Open House Oxford, we’ve put together a collection of art works and writing by young people in Oxfordshire, so they can express their experience of being in lockdown. Look through our nearly 100 submissions here…
Valentina - 12 - Didcot I wanted to use make up to show different negative emotions (bags under my eyes from struggling to sleep, bright eye make-up to show a sunrise to treat each day as a new day). I then borrowed my Mum's make-up t12o do it on my own face. I then used different filters on my phone to add some dramatic effects. And then put it all together on one page to show the emotions all together.
Maya - 13 - Didcot
Ellie - 13 - Didcot
Ellie - 13 - Didcot
Amber - 17 - Donnington During lockdown, one of the things I noticed was how vivid my dreams were becoming and so I decided to start writing them down as soon as I woke up and this poem is about one of the dreams I had...
Eloise - 21 - Oxford It felt like my experience of everyday life/routine (eating, doing sport, drinking tea, and working) and my mental experience (loneliness, anguish, semi-obsessive thoughts about the past, stress about the future, etc) were compeltely disconnected during lockdown and I wanted to express that through my comic.
Emilia - 14 - Didcot My piece is called “Befuddled”. It is a watercolour painting and was inspired … by how I felt during having to do school work at home and how everything changed and how it was stressful but also inspiring and peaceful all at once. And how I had so much time to think about things, I felt like my head would explode with the amount of thoughts I had.
Faina - 13 - Didcot I think lockdown was kind of fun because I got to do a lot and I got to see a lot of people and I found school okay.
Carenza - 16 - Abingdon
Carenza - 16 - Abingdon
Carenza - 16 - Abingdon
Carenza - 16 - Abingdon
Isla - 12 - Abingdon "Galaxy". My art was inspired by the opportunities that I have had during lockdown and the ones I have yet to come across in the future. I used acrylic paint on a canvas board.
Brinda - 12 The purpose of my artwork is depicting how a girl was able to dance freely until lockdown and meaning of the colours in the background represent freedom and the chain represents lockdown. I got inspired by myself and how I love to dance with my friends at school whereas now I can't because i am staying home.
Dominic - 16 - Abingdon
Dominic - 16 - Abingdon
Gio-Gio - 17 - Didcot
Gio-Gio - 17 - Didcot
Himalee - 13
Izzie - 11 - Didcot
Sughrah - 16 - Oxford
Sughrah - 16 - Oxford
Sughrah - 16 - Oxford
Sughrah - 16 - Oxford
Sughrah - 16 - Oxford
Sughrah - 16 - Oxford
Sughrah - 16 - Oxford
Luisa - 12 - Didcot
Emma - 16 - Abingdon
Emma - 16 - Abingdon
Izzy - 13 - Stadhampton
Izzy - 13 - Stadhampton
Joe - 16 - Abingdon
Joe - 16 - Abingdon
Katy - 15 - Didcot It is a watercolour painting expressing feelings that me and many others have been experiencing.
Lillymae - 12 - Didcot I chose flowers as i see them as calm but i made them look misplaced because lockdown has not been perfect or the easiest
Lillymae - 12 - Didcot
Sanjaana - 17 - Abingdon
Michelle - 12 - Didcot
Milena - 11 - Bloxham
Milena - 11 - Bloxham
Myfanwy - 15 - Didcot "Hard 2 Swallow" which I produced at the beginning of COVID-19 as I struggled with my anxiety to be able to look on the bright side. It is a surreal sketch with a hint of abstract used to portray how strange this situation has been.
Myfanwy - 15 - Didcot "Girl on Cliff". This artwork represents the frustration people go through in these times as everything seems uncertain and how perhaps the only normality people have is being able to walk outside and contemplate their own lives by themselves.
Myfanwy - 15 - Didcot
Myfanwy - 15 - Didcot
Myfanwy - 15 - Didcot "Loneliness" When I produced it, I had two thoughts in mind: COVID and mental health. How you try to keep healthy but sometimes the sickness catches up to you and you can not control it which makes it seem impossible to deal with and pull through. These are illnesses that can affect anyone and they do which is why I think having an outlet for the emotions that go with them are crucial.
Nell - 14
Nell - 14
Emily - 16 - Abingdon
Emily - 16 - Abingdon
Emily - 16 - Abingdon
Imansa - 13 - Chilton These photos represent how we've been feeling caged, and overwhelmed during lockdown.
Imansa - 13 - Chilton
Nell - 14 The graveyard one is because my mum only let us walk through a graveyard next to our house during the lockdown.
Niamh - 13 - Abingdon
Olivia - 14 - Didcot My thoughts are expressed in the comedy drawing I drew and it represents how we have drastically evolved, not only physically, but also to lockdown. We’ve had to sacrifice, and take on a lot of work to get through this time, and everyone is doing so well.
Olivia - 12 - Steventon I wanted to make something that would remind me of the hard work the NHS and other key workers have done during the pandemic. I saw lots of rainbow pictures by other people and wondered if I could make something really big! Tie dying a duvet cover was the biggest thing I could make and it reminds me of the effort of others every night when I go to bed.
Tya
Rebecca - 20 - Oxford
Rebecca - 20 - Oxford
Rebecca - 20 - Oxford
Rebecca - 20 - Oxford
Rebecca - 20 - Oxford
Rebecca - 20 - Oxford
Rebecca - 20 - Oxford
Rebecca - 20 - Oxford
Rebecca - 20 - Oxford
Alex - 16 - Abingdon
Alex - 16 - Abingdon
Saffron - 13 - Didcot My inspiration for this painting is the film Spider-Man into the spider-verse. In lockdown I have had a lot of free time so I have been watching a lot of films this was one of my favourites.
Simcha - 11 - Oxford
Simcha - 11 - Oxford
Simcha - 11 - Oxford
Simcha - 11 - Oxford
Tanya - 13 - Cowley
Tanya - 13 - Cowley
Alice - 20 - Oxford These are scans from a sketchbook I've kept since the start of quarantine, where I fill in one page every day. As of today, I have done 144 pages, trying out different styles, techniques, and media each day.
Alice - 20 - Oxford
Alice - 20 - Oxford
Alice - 20 - Oxford
Alice - 20 - Oxford
Alice - 20 - Oxford
Alice - 20 - Oxford
Alice - 20 - Oxford
Alice - 20 - Oxford
Sanjaana - 17 - Abingdon
Frankie - 15 - Summertown
James - 12 - Bloxham My time in lock-down has been a wierd experience, not being able to meet up with friends and doing my homework at home. I haven't been able to seen other members of my family. Doing exersize for me hasn't been easy as most of the sports I do are team sports, but I have been doing about 3 days each week. Not being able to see friends has made me a lot more bored and not knowing what to do with myself. My homework that I have been doing has been a range of challenges from being too easy to too hard; also too much work and too long has made me get frustrated many times. The good things about lock-down is that I get to sleep in abd I get to be comfortable working and I have my parents who I can talk to more freely.
Amelia - 13 - Didcot My work is inspired by what I have been doing in lockdown as you can see I have drawn a bike which i have been doing a lot of and been getting exercise and getting fresh air but I have also seen new things which has come across in my picture in new ways
Amelia - 12 - Didcot
Isoble - 16 - Abingdon
Anoushka - 12 - Didcot My submission is a positive quote to inspire me and other to be individual.
Aoife - 12 - Marcham Called 'Through the glass', a drawing in charcoal.
Bethanie - 12 - Didcot
Courtney - 12 - Didcot To do this art work I used water colour pens, and the inspiration behind this is my family and my every day life.
Elizabeth - 12 - Didcot I have made some cinnamon biscuits with different emotions on them to show how I've been feeling during lockdown.
Joori - 22 - Oxford
Will - 16 - Burford I took these photos of my sister to show the stress and anxiety of simply not knowing a huge amount of information regarding the virus and where we stand in terms of moving past it...
Will - 16 - Burford
Will - 16 - Burford
Will - 16 - Burford
Alice - 13 - Wantage
Meriel - 21 - Oxford
Meriel - 21 - Oxford
Meriel - 21 - Oxford
Meriel - 21 - Oxford
Meriel - 21 - Oxford
Meriel - 21 - Oxford
Kieran - 21 - Headington For me, lockdown gave me a chance to reconnect with my personal creativity. It offered a chance to take a breath, and see what I could achieve artistically by myself, for myself. Free from having any work pushed for criticism by tutors. It also was for me the first time me and my partner spent uninterrupted time with each other, living within our flat. As social people we both saw this affecting our mental health. So we tried to create more within our walls, utilising a projector and a film camera to create new spaces for us both to inhabit.
Kieran - 21 - Headington
Kieran - 21 - Headington
Kieran - 21 - Headington