BELMONT, N.Y. — Five senior girls at Genesee Valley Central School are staying connected with each other and their community amid a pandemic thanks to a growing art project.
The photo collage features dozens of people — young and old — with and without their masks. Originally, the girls wanted to have people write messages on masks for a bigger art installation, but for safety reasons, they decided against a large public display.
Instead, "Pandemic Portraits" is more of a virtual experience.
"Each of us were given a certain amount of masks to go around and take pictures of people. Then we would send the pictures in to Mrs. Babbitt, and she Photoshopped them to go together in a way that has a powerful message," said student Kayci Bigelow.
The students decided that they didn't need written words to tell a powerful story about how lives changed in 2020 and 2021.
"We're in the middle of a very important part of history right now. We wanted to see the changes that COVID has brought upon us," said student Haley Brown.
Some students dealt with COVID-19 firsthand, like Holly Coppini whose mom had the virus.
"To me any art project you do, there's always some sort of a meaning behind it, but for this one [it's different] being that it's something that's going to make history. It doesn't just happen every day," said Coppini.
There are a few dozen photos right now, but they want to make the project bigger and add even more portraits.
"We do have plans to expand it because we want to show that it's not just our community. It's literally everyone from everywhere that's going through it," said student Savannah Werner.