Resist Violence: Detention

In the midst of a global pandemic, when people are suffering and dying, when people can’t see their loved ones and are quarantined in their homes, how are students who crave knowledge and strive for success supposed to find the motivation and inspiration that allows them to be great? Well maybe being confined with our thoughts and reflections on what is going on in the world, and how the world works is just what we needed to create greatness.

During this crisis, a lot of us have turned to social media as a news outlet or used it to share personal experiences or stories and also share how we feel about what’s going on. Among a group of students who learned to turn images of violence into a form of resistance, some decided to dedicate an Instagram page to spread awareness on the dangers of fighting each other instead of fighting the virus. Some decided to focus on issues that as a society, we still have yet to overcome, like the discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community, against refugees and immigrants, like police brutality, racism and sexism. How can we resist this type of violence? Perhaps through art, through humour, through words of wisdom…

I guess some of us are asking ourselves: will we go back to a world of violence and discrimination after all of this is over? Sadly, we might, which means as students, we aren’t done resisting, we aren’t done being engaged citizens and this awkward and difficult period has allowed us to come together and unlock our hearts and minds by creating works of artistic activism.

*please be advised, these works deal with subject matter that can be difficult for some.