CSULB Students respond to Covid-19: Photovoice Project 2020

Students Respond to the COVID-19 Crisis: A Photovoice Project was created to give voice to a generation of students who, while navigating what in normal times would be the most transformative years of their lives, confront an even greater challenge in economic and social upheaval brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

Organized by CSULB’s Dr. Brian Trimble, Assistant Professor in the School of Art, and Dr. Beth Manke, Interim Dean for Student Success, the project offers students a creative opportunity to reflect upon and document, through photographs and narratives, how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting them, their families, and their communities. Based on a method developed in the 1990s for community-based participatory research, this Photovoice project has the potential to create awareness and initiate change. The Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum is hosting online gallery space for the students’ work, which will be updated biweekly with new entries through the fall 2020 semester. The wide range of responses thus far, both positive and negative, shows how profoundly students have been affected. One of the researchers’ goals is that students’ photos and narratives will also inform campus discussions about how best to support students during crises.