‘#MyPandemicStory: Youth Create Portraits of a Pandemic’ opens on Oct. 23

Adam Carter · CBC News · Posted: Oct 19, 2021 4:29 PM ET | Last Updated: October 19

Mississauga artist Hannah Choi stands next to her piece ‘Ambiguity,’ which is part of the Royal Ontario Museum’s new crowdsourced exhibition called ‘#MyPandemicStory: Youth Create Portraits of a Pandemic.’ (Sam Nar/CBC)

After 2,300 submissions from children and teens across the province, the Royal Ontario Museum is launching its first crowdsourced exhibition, which centres on seeing the pandemic through the eyes of Ontario’s young people.

It’s called #MyPandemicStory: Youth Create Portraits of a Pandemic, and it’s running for free starting on Oct. 23.

Justin Jennings, curator in the arts and culture department at the ROM, said the museum was “blown away” by the submissions, which run the gamut from visual art to spoken word, music and dance.

“It was really profound for us,” he told CBC News.

“A lot of this art you see and you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is amazing, I couldn’t possibly do this,’ and this person is 12 years old.”

Some of the work is bittersweet, like Glass Half Full by a four-year-old from Toronto named Jackson, who describes the drawing as “lonely but at least we still have rainbows and flowers.”

Glass Half Full was drawn by a four-year-old from Toronto named Jackson. (Royal Ontario Museum)

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