Since it was started in 2023, the #CreateConnectCare art contest has given youth aged 11-18 opportunities to create original artwork, poetry and videos regarding its theme of mental health. The contest aims to promote mental health awareness and provide youth with creative outlets.
While the first 500 people to submit receive Moleskine journals, all students may also receive one of six awards with prize money, the most competitive being the Creative Changemaker Award. Only three winners are selected for this award, and each receives $500. In her artwork titled “Safe Space,” which received a 2024 Creative Changemaker Award, junior Mia Chun portrayed herself in her safe space: her bedroom.
“For your room, it’s where you basically spend most of your time in,” Chun said. “Or for me especially, I do my work there, I sleep there. I’m almost always there, so it’s like my little safe space.”
The contest aims to alleviate stress by giving students an opportunity to convey their experiences and build community, as they are able to approach the topic of mental health using a variety of perspectives and creative tools. While some, like Chun, might create submissions about recovery from periods of mental lows, others center their artwork around factors affecting mental health.
AP Studio Art student junior Jiyoung Yun, who moved across multiple countries from a young age, created a piece for this year’s contest depicting the struggle of upholding her heritage while adjusting to a different culture. Her colored charcoal drawing portrays a girl dressed in traditional Korean cultural attire, clutching a cat to herself as crabs attack her to symbolize the social pressures to adapt to new societal expectations.
“I feel less pressured about my culture now, because now I express it through art, and now I can show it to other people and talk about it,” Yun said. “I think that kind of made me refreshed.”
The community-building aspect of this contest makes the relationship between the creator and viewers of the submission more significant, motivating Yun to change her artistic process to make an artwork that resonates with more people.
“Before I did this contest, my art was more based on myself, telling my personal story, what happened to me and what I’m going through,” Yun said. “But for this one, I had to also think about other people’s experiences as well.”
The contest closes on March 31; students can visit https://www.createconnectcare.org for more details.
