Forsyth County, North Carolina

By Teen Services
Posted Thursday, October 1, 2020

TeenTober Challenge 2020

Art as Activism

Throughout history, people have used art as a way to express activism and advocate for their beliefs. In more recent times, we have seen our society re-evaluating the weight of importance that statues and artworks carry. This has caused a discussion centered around how individuals from the past are depicted and how the ideals that they supported matter in context in today’s world.

Forsyth County Public Library is inviting teens and tweens ages 12-18 to choose a cause that they are passionate about and create their own artwork in support. Art as Activism Challenge winners will be featured on the Forsyth County Public Library webpage and social media channels with a brief artist introduction and the winning entry.

Feeling Creative? Send Us Your Work

Teens and tweens ages 12-18 can email a photo or a copy of their work, a 2-3 sentence description of the piece, and a 2-3 sentence profile of the artist to ArtAsActivismFCPL@gmail.com.

Entries will be accepted until 6 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 31.

Accepted art forms include, but are not limited to, paintings, poetry, essays, songs, short stories, collages, and more.

Only one submission per artist, and teens and tweens must live in Forsyth County at the time of entry. Any submission with derogatory or explicit language will be disqualified. Submissions may be edited for publication.

Looking for Inspiration?

Here are a few images from history.

Rumors of War

Kehinde Wiley (born 1977) is an American artist known for repositioning black youth within the classical European tradition of power and status. With Rumors of War, he expands this concept while directly engaging the national conversation around monuments and their role in perpetuating incomplete histories and inequality.
Photo by Travis Fullerton © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

Art and Activism for Climate Action

A quarter million people joined the Climate Action March around the world on Sep. 8, 2018, asking for immediate action to reduce climate change.
In San Francisco, thousands of activists created one the largest street murals ever made, covering five blocks of city streets with dozens of colorful scenes illustrating possible solutions to global warming, all around the City Hall plaza.
Photo by Fabrice Florin

Art and Activism for Climate Action

Mural of Professor Wangari Maathai

Mural of the late Kenyan environmentalist and human rights activist Professor Wangari Maathai painted by Delvin Kenobe and Kate Deciccio in 2012 on an apartment building at Haight and Pierce.
Photo by art around

Rules for Entering

Please submit a copy or photo of your work to artasactivismfcpl@gmail.com by 6 p.m. on Saturday, October 31.
Must be at least 12 years old and no older than 18 at the time of submission and live within Forsyth County limits.
All submissions must be original works created by the teen submitting the entry.
Each participant may submit only one entry.
Entries may be edited for publication.
Entries with derogatory or explicit language will be disqualified.

Webstory HTML by April Mittelstaedt