3 Photos
Greer Costello, a member of Guild Hall Teen Arts Council
By Nathalie Friedman
“How is COVID-19 affecting you?”
Ask this question in a room, or more likely in a Zoom meeting, and the emotional ache and real injuries caused by the pandemic will be insufficiently expressed. Answers like, “we’re getting by,” or “we’re the lucky ones … it could be worse,” and efforts to make the shared space lighthearted, will overshadow the truth that hearts and homes are deeply impaired.
In her exhibition “A Small Taste of Freedom,” Sag Harbor photographer Lindsay Morris collaborates with members of the Guild Hall Teen Arts Council (GHTAC) to discuss this topic. Their project simultaneously raises awareness for the declining mental health of children and adults during quarantine, and illuminates the voices of teenagers on the brink of adulthood whose difficulties are frequently unheard. Morris’s photo series opened at Guild Hall in East Hampton on August 21 and will remain on view through January 3, 2021.
The new exhibition considers the way in which insecurity that abounds during adolescence is intensified during the pandemic. These teenagers’ constant struggle with being trapped in their own minds is amplified by the reality that they are trapped in their own rooms. And as the exhibition at Guild Hall rightfully points out, “The car no longer represents a getaway toward an exciting future,” right now — “but rather a means to escape from stressful and even claustrophobic home lives … This new framing of the automobile (or other modes of transportation like bikes and skateboards) as an escape rather than a leap into the future, tells a different story” of teen life than is normally understood in film and in the media.
Indeed, the automobile is an important feature in Morris’s latest series, as teenage rites of passage, as simple as packing up and going to college, are reframed by the coronavirus. The subtleties in meaning between the word “freedom” and the word “escape” start to matter … and the term jail-break certainly comes to mind.
The project began with written work by each member of the GHTAC — who were asked the question “How is COVID-19 affecting you?” The students were encouraged to answer in as much depth and detail as they were comfortable sharing, and to discuss their struggles on more than a superficial level. They began this written work before being introduced to Morris by Anthony Madonna, Guild Hall’s Patti Kenner Fellow in arts education who played a large role in organizing the exhibition, in order to take the GHTAC’s creative work to the next level.
Morris’s decision to pursue a portrait series with each teen stemmed from the intensity of their prose, and the realization that teenagers deeply needed to be given a voice during the pandemic.
“Teens [are underrepresented in the media] — [a place] where the voices of these kids who are struggling in ways that adults cannot understand” needs to be more fully told, she said.
“They did feel as if they were living in a void,” Madonna added. “They weren’t speaking to people, they didn’t know what other teens were thinking [and going through], and there was no way to hear about the teenage experience as a source of potential comfort and solidarity.”
During their collaboration, the teens also produced audio recordings of their personal writing to accompany each photograph.
By giving the Teen Arts Council members an opportunity to incorporate different mediums, and “express their feelings beyond the written word,” Madonna believed that the students would be uplifted and inspired. The project, which ultimately features portraiture, audio and literature, provided a powerful community throughout the summer, he said.
Madonna also shared his thoughts about the significance Zoom had in the group’s process of writing and creating, saying, “The Teen Council members, who go to different schools, Zoomed in and saw how many people live in each house.” This information about “what environment each peer came from, fostered a greater awareness and sense of compassion, because meetings [were] in places they were never meant to be.”
The students involved in the Teen Arts Council, whose members grew and supported each other during the pandemic, agreed there is an intrinsic importance about having a creative outlet in the face of a dark and uncertain future. Members Tiffany Farez-Cajamarca and Brontë Zunis both admitted that although there is a baseline understanding of the trials of quarantine among all families, important economic disparities in America are magnified, and frankly, terrifying.
[caption id="attachment_102461" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Greer Costello, a member of Guild Hall Teen Arts Council, poses for Lindsay Morris in her family's car.[/caption]
Both girls passionately voiced the value and heartbreak involved in seeing friends or family members worry about their household’s survival. While they agreed that such inequities are a dark ongoing truth in America, they said it was painful for them, as teens, to see these evils and imbalances in society swell before their eyes.
“I hadn’t really thought about how [the pandemic] was affecting kids on a personal level,” Morris also stated. “The struggles [I read about] were different from family to family, and [although some] of their circumstances were the same, others were questioning whether there would be food on the table, future employment, and [what it would mean] to live in a crowded house” long-term.
Morris explained that she let the kids lead her to the scene in which she photographed them: “I don’t go into a portrait knowing what I want to do — I let the kids guide me.”
While cars and the way in which teens use them as a means of escape from the pandemic are a predominate feature of the series, some of the subjects of the series didn’t have cars and Morris had to reframe her thinking.
“They all had modes of transport. I’d spend some time thinking, ‘I know this person is coming on a bike — how much of the bike do I want in the photo?’” said Morris, who made sure the photo session revolved around their personalities.”
[caption id="attachment_102462" align="aligncenter" width="600"]
Gigi Lama and her yellow bike pose for Lindsay Morris.[/caption]
“Gigi said she wanders out at night, she really likes to be alone and wanders at 4 a.m., with her beautiful yellow bike,” said Morris of Sag Harbor teen Gigi Lama. “I knew we had to feature this in her portrait.”
“Everybody feels claustrophobic and sequestered. Nobody wants to be told that they cannot leave their house, and have to put a mask on their face. One reoccurring theme is they miss the predictability of their lives,” she added.
The Teen Arts Council members truly valued the experience of collaborating with Morris, Farez-Cajamarca and Zunis explained. The opportunity and encouragement for their self-expression was relieving, and Zunis, who loves photography, was excited to work with Morris. Zunis’s portrait by Morris was taken in a parking lot near her house which she travels to by skateboard. It is “not a traditionally pretty place,” she said, but she admired how Morris was able to find the beauty within the location immediately upon arrival.
The collaboration was exciting for both the teens and Morris.
“It was a gift to work with them, because my life was brought to a screeching halt [like everyone else, and] it gives one hope to have an exhibition to look forward to and mark time,” said Morris, who hopes that teenagers will be able to recognize the common threads they share during this pandemic. “I also hope that adults will take the time to listen to teens, and that by listening to the audio recordings, they can sit there with each teen, look them in the eye, and hear their stories.
“I feel really lucky to have been a part of this, and I think the best portraits are taken when people are vulnerable, and there was something raw about the experience,” Morris added.
“I don’t think they were just shy or uncomfortable, I think they were just paralyzed in their lives right now.”
“A Small Taste of Freedom” is on view now through Sunday, January 3, at Guild Hall, 158 Main Street, East Hampton. For more information, visit guildhall.org.
on Aug 27, 2020