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Season 2 of Processing… continues to give us insight into how creative makers work through periods of intense political and personal uncertainty.
Today, we discuss how, in the period of safety restrictions brought about by COVID-19, limitations can be a source of innovation and reimagining of the creative process. This season features the stories of Hannah Eko (MFA in writing graduate), Craig Hayes (undergraduate student), Oronde Sharif (Department of Africana Studies faculty), Ivette Spradlin (Studio Arts faculty), and Tahirah Walker (former staff, Center for Teaching and Learning). Hosted by Shannon Fink (Center for Creativity Operations Manager).
In this episode of Processing..., our creative cohort describes how improvisation is an integral part of navigating periods of intense change in their personal and communal lives, and the struggles they’ve encountered in a year that has called for constant pivoting.
Oronde speaks about the challenges of producing synergy between people while being far apart and ways he seeks to overcome them. Ivette takes us through the way a project inspired by past pandemics has bridged gaps in connections between herself and her neighbors. Hannah describes how her writing has become a point of connection with the world around her and, as a result, has become a refuge. Craig talks of how the separation caused by the pandemic has helped him create community with others, and how this has sparked a sense of purpose and responsibility in his own creative expression. Tahirah rounds out our discussion by examining how the slowing down of the world around her has caused her to become much more intentional and how the needs for justice, community, and health converge in new and interesting ways.
“How do you navigate a need for community, and a need for justice, while you're also really concerned about things on other levels...that's the creativity question, kind of writ large, right? Like it's a balance. You got to know when you put too much read in that thing, like I might want to write a poem and I might want every other words to be the F bomb, because that's how I feel. And yet, I kind of have to think like, but does that invite people to my work?...You got to make those decisions.” - Tahirah Walker
Processing... is a production of the Center for Creativity at the University of Pittsburgh. The team includes Jasmine Green, Mike Campbell, Nancy Kirkwood, Kit Ayars, Erik Schuckers, Chad Brown and Shannon Fink. For more information, visit us online at creative.pitt.edu. Music in this episode is by Blue Dot Sessions.
