Outside My Window: Students Reflect on Life During Covid-19

Outside My Window: Students Reflect on Life During Covid-19

March 12, 2021 Art

One year ago this month, everything shut down as Covid-19 ravaged the world. We sheltered in place, and adjusted to working and learning remotely. And our brave frontline workers—from healthcare professionals to teachers to police and firefighters to transit and food workers—kept us going.

In May 2020, the Hudson River Museum invited teachers and students to submit images or writing that reflected this new reality: what they could see outside their window. We were moved and humbled by the response from near and far, and how the art works creatively and beautifully expressed their individual experiences and our common humanity. Together, these images and writings chronicle the historic time we have been living, and connect us by capturing moments that have been challenging or uplifting, dark or beautiful.

In this online community exhibition, we are proud to present the work of 93 young artists, from Pre-K through Grade 12, from 11 schools from nearby Yonkers to as far away as Mexico. As the pandemic continues to affect our everyday lives, the distribution of vaccines gives us hope that soon we will be outside our windows, together. We dedicate this project to the more than half a million people we have lost thus far to the pandemic in this country alone, and to those who are helping us to survive. It is they whom we celebrate on this difficult anniversary. And we are grateful to the resilient young people who help us to look toward the future with imagination, vision, and optimism.

Special thanks to the teachers that facilitated submissions:

Verónica Roque Ángeles, Instituto EuroAmericano Humanitas (Oaxaca, Mexico)
Carmelo Bueti, George M. Davis Jr. Elementary (New Rochelle, NY)
Sheila Delaney, PEARLS Hawthorne School (Yonkers, NY)
Jamie Downs, César E. Chávez School (Yonkers, NY)
Nicole Jakymiw, Scarsdale High School (Scarsdale, NY)
Tiffany MacKnight, Community Health Academy of the Heights (Washington Heights, NY)
Joanne Martselos, Lincoln High School (Yonkers, NY)
Alyssha Miro, Siwanoy Elementary School (Pelham, NY)
Amanda Nigro, César E. Chávez School (Yonkers, NY)
Laura Pelin, Siwanoy Elementary School (Pelham, NY)
Kevin Ramirez, Instituto EuroAmericano Humanitas (Oaxaca, Mexico)
P. Rossi, Siwanoy Elementary School (Pelham, NY)
Jude Rustin, Martin Luther King Jr. Academy (Yonkers, NY)
Avi Stein, Yonkers Public School 21 (Yonkers, NY)
Kathleen Theret, César E. Chávez School (Yonkers, NY)
C. Uberman, Yonkers Middle High School (Yonkers, NY)

Special thanks to Viridiana Garcia Choy, HRM’s Manager, Youth and Family Programs; Camille Knop, Design and Content Manager; Jen McCaffery, Marketing and Communications Manager; HRM Junior Docents; and Sarah Lawrence College interns Emma Oppenheimer and Lillian Pettigrew.

Support provided by Art Bridges.