AKA Mombasa Visual Arts teacher Donna Scott recently asked Year 6 students to express their feelings about the COVID-19 pandemic using art. Students were required to use the six elements of art – lines, value, space, shape, texture and colour – as their expressive tools.

Explaining why it was significant for students to undertake such an initiative, Donna said: “I thought it was important for the students to have a chance to express their feelings about this huge upheaval in their lives and art is a powerful way to do that.”

Art has provided much needed respite for students amid the pandemic as it has been a positive way for them to explore and connect with their expressive selves.

Donna hopes that students will hold on to their art pieces to remind them of how they were able to overcome such an extraordinary time in their lives. “This is an unprecedented time in human history and I hope that the students keep these pieces as a memory.”

Since lockdown, teachers in the Expressive Arts department have been using exciting methods to create engaging distance learning support for students to help them find comfort and cope with the new normal.

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Left: The mask (texture): "Feeling anxious and worried about the pandemic." - Right: The landscape (colour): “Clean air and clear skies (less air pollution).”

This article was adapted from a story published on the Aga Khan Academies’ website.