March 11th marked the two-year anniversary of the World Health Organization declaring COVID-19 a global pandemic. At that time, the virus had been detected in more than 100 countries, including Canada, disrupting the lives of many.
To capture the UTSC community鈥檚 experience of the pandemic, the UTSC Library is launching a new digital collection. The UTSC Library鈥檚 is a public collection of creative works by students, faculty, and staff. The collection captures the pandemic鈥檚 impact on our lives and the ways we coped and made meaning of this profound disruption.
This digital project emerges out of an assignment in Professor Suzanne Sicchia鈥檚 鈥淔oundations in Health Studies鈥 course in the Department of Health and Society. The assignment was premised on the idea that engaging in creative expression can reduce our feelings of distress and isolation, connect us, and help us to make meaning of frightening and uncertain times. Recognizing the potential value of the output of this assignment, students were invited to submit their creative expressions of living through the pandemic to the digital collection.
Many of the items in the collection are photographs of physical works. Materials will be curated, described, and stewarded by the UTSC Library, and made public through our digital collections. The library will post a take-down notice in case students prefer that the item not appear publicly.
As we return to campus after two years of remote work and study, we invite students, faculty, and staff to add to this important collection. Please consider submitting digital copies of your illustrations, paintings, photography, crafts, poetry, stories, music, or short films. Our collective creative expressions will help future generations more fully appreciate what it was like to study, work, play, love, struggle and live through these challenging times.
Interested in contributing? Members of the UTSC community (students, staff, and faculty) can , or contact dsu.utsc@utoronto.ca or suzanne.sicchia@utoronto.ca with proposed submission(s) to the collection.