One of the most effective ways to get the attention of young people regarding important issues that they face is through their peers.
That’s what students from The Lodge School’s Art Department are hoping to achieve by using murals to not only beautify the school plant but also share powerful messages about children’s rights and responsibilities, as well as female empowerment among the student body.
At a recent ceremony to unveil the murals at the Massiah Street, St. John school, student artists Donelia Nicholls and Felicity Pollard hoped the murals would inspire and encourage other students.
Nicholls’ artwork is titled “Female Empowerment” and it was painted in the girls’ bathroom. This location, she explained, was not chosen by happenchance. In fact, following a discussion with a friend while in lower sixth form, Nicholls said she learned that the bathroom was where most people went to be alone or when they felt lonely. Hence, she chose to place her mural in there so it could be viewed somewhat as a non-intrusive counsellor who shares encouraging messages and it directs students to agencies that would better serve their needs.
The piece depicts females of different ethnicities and body types portrayed in the two places where students spend most of their time – at home and at school. As you enter the
bathroom, you are greeted by females with different ethnicities and varying attributes. Nicholls believed the intimacy of the female bathroom was a good place to reach young females in a quiet moment. Also, the females’ bathroom was the perfect place to remind them of their worth. The mural was painted on the available surfaces which were the walls and the stall doors. Messages were painted on the doors and over the sinks with the aim of giving advice and encouragement to the younger girls about issues to help them as they grow.
“I included a self-portrait so that other students would see a peer talking with them, someone who has had her own personal trials and struggles but never gave up. I hope that they will see someone sharing from the heart, and not a person speaking down to them, because we as young people tend to feel that adults don’t understand and that they trivialise our concerns,” she said
“Painting this mural was not easy. Covid was a real pain. Practising art requires a lot of dedication, commitment and sacrifice so almost every day we were the last people to leave school. But the message is not only important to others, it reminded me every day I worked on it of my own value and that my value is not determined by anyone but it is dependent on the value God created me with, as I am created in the image of God,” Nicholls added.
Pollard’s mural is titled, “Children’s Rights are Human Rights” and it highlights a series of freedoms. These include: The right to an education, health care, justice, play, travel, the religion of choice and nationhood. With that said, she hopes to achieve three main goals through her work.
“To remind children that they too have human rights, and they should not allow others to misuse them . . . . Secondly, I wish to give the message that although these rights exist, children also have the responsibility that comes with rights. So, just as you have the right to
an education, you have the responsibility to do the homework and to attend class at a
punctual time. Lastly, I want children to know that they should never take their rights for
granted because there are important measures of self-worth and they give you freedom and that is what is so important,” Pollard said.
The pieces, which were part of the Creative Project, took roughly three months to be completed with the students sacrificing their Easter break to ensure it was done. They thanked their teachers Jean Prescott-Bullen, Fay Martindale, Theona Hinds, families and peers for their encouragement. (KC)
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