Manifesting creative concepts takes courage and persistence. Our ability to generate thematic art that leaves a lasting impression on our audience is birthed through our own experience and or someone else’s. It is here however that we can explore one of the lasting impressions that Xavier Thompson, a fourth-year film student, wants to unveil for a world impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This series is titled “B4-AF.”
The series is a formation of emotions and personal stories of what each individual’s life was like before and after the introduction of the pandemic. The colors chosen are a direct reflection of what represented each person’s experience coinciding with the emotion that they felt. Although we can each determine what we feel the artist wanted to convey, Thompson left us an artist statement to reveal the overall message for this project.
“Over the past year, I have heard a lot about the pandemic’s emotional, physical, behavioral impact on children and adults. This project will focus on portraits that incorporate color(s) that reflect people’s mental well-being before and after the pandemic. I feel it’s important to discuss mental health. I believe everyone at some point in their life struggle with their mental health. Hopefully, this photo series will show people that they are not alone and help remove the mental health stigma for young adults.”
To see more of Thompson’s work, visit his Instagram page.
