Give ‘Em Hope Awards 2022 WINNERS
One of Harvey Milk’s major life themes was “You gotta give ‘em hope.” This has also been a major tenet of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus’s mission. It carries over to the National Queer Arts Center. Had the pandemic not shuttered our building, we would be bringing young artists to the Center to support them and give them an outlet for their art. We are continuing that virtually with these awards.
Thanks to a generous donation by David Falzone and his family, SFGMC has the privilege to highlight the work of artists so deeply impacted by the pandemic and give them hope through a monetary gift as well. In creating the Special Projects Fund with the chorus, David was passionate about doing something immediate to help artists in these very difficult times.
As a non-profit in the time of the 2nd pandemic of our lives, we have our own struggles. It is with great excitement and gratitude for this gift, that we are able to hold the hands of fellow artists, lift them up and provide a gift of hope.
The chorus had the great joy of doing the same type of initiative in 2013 during the world premiere of I Am Harvey Milk. That initiative resulted in a wide array of submissions and phenomenal award winners.
“FLOWERING HOPE” BY Brenna Ren
During the height of the pandemic, everyone felt that hope was lost. However, it soon crept back in our lives when things took a turn for the better. Personally, I found that taking care of various plants around the house gave me a purpose, especially when school work became tedious. After spending time around these plants, I noticed their continued determination to grow, which inspired my piece.
In my self-portrait, cornflowers, the flower symbolic of hope, blossom out of my mask, just how hope blossomed in our lives, despite the circumstances we were in. Just like plants that climb towards the sun, we were able to climb out of the pandemic and return back to our daily lives.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Brenna Ren is a California native and currently in 8th grade at the Harker School. In 2013, at the age of 6, she began studying art and has continued ever since. During the following years, she learned to create art using a variety of methods: drawing, painting, sculpting, and photography. Through her favorite mediums, color pencil and oil paint, she morphs her daily experiences into intricate pieces of artwork. Brenna especially likes utilizing dark backgrounds, such as black paper, to highlight and focus the piece on its central subject. Growing up surrounded by California’s beautiful landscape, she often incorporates various aspects of nature into her artwork as well. She hopes to use her artwork to display the beauty of the world, while also being able to convey meaningful ideas, such as hope. Besides art, Brenna enjoys activities like competitive programming, mathematics, piano, and tennis. In her free time, she reads books, bakes a variety of food, cares for her plants, listens to music, and folds origami.
“AGAIN AGUN” by Maya Mohsin
“Again Agun” is a solo that expresses the transformation and evolution of myself from someone who is uncertain, and defeated, to someone who is alive and powerful. Agun means fire in Bengali. The title is a play on words, but also represents the possibility of coming to life again after a period of heaviness and despair. Again, I go through the flames of transformation and come out on the other side different, but better in a way that I would have never imagined. It showcases the trust needed in having faith that the changes we must go through in life will lead to more abundant and joyful states of being.
I was assigned to commissioning a solo during my senior year of college, with the task of finding someone to work with that would understand me and what I desired for the outcome. Choreographed by Christian Burns, one of my teachers at school, this piece was a beautiful collaboration of heart and soul and history, leading to a wonderful result of passion, rebirth, and, well… hope. It meant the world to me to be able to dance to a Bengali song; my father is from Bangladesh and immigrated to the states when he was seventeen years old. He has worked tirelessly since then to provide for his family and make sure that we can go after what we desire in our lives. In this case, his dedication allowed me to dance as I do, which made this solo all the more special. Within the depths of this solo also lies the truth that it is possible for someone like me to dance something like this while achieving a BFA in dance at university. Without being blatant, it is a physical representation of manifested hope; the proof that hope works, and will continue to work when used with love and power.
The inspiration was me and my story, and all of the lived histories of myself and those who came before. It is an ode to what has been, what is, and what will be, trusting that I will always keep moving forward, no matter what it looks like. I ‘hope’ that these feelings come across through my movement and performance. Thank you!
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Maya Mohsin (she/they) is a queer mixed Bengali artist from San Jose, CA. Recently graduated from the Alonzo King LINES Ballet BFA Program at Dominican University in 2022, with a major in Dance and a minor in Community Action and Social Change, Maya is a dancer and performer trained in many styles and practices. As a creator, Maya is interested in the heart of who we are as people; the circularity of our experiences and existences that help to make us whole and give us the opportunity to connect and feel our hearts beating as one. Maya is also a tarot reader, and loves to intermix this interest with her dancing, a combination that will always be embedded in any actions Maya may take in their life. Maya is currently based in the Bay Area.
“QUARANTINE” BY Sarah Farquharson
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Sarah Farquharson is a non-binary and bisexual 17 year old from the California. They started making multimedia art during quarantine which combines drawings, photography, and words to create pieces about gender, youth, and more. Sarah spends her time writing, making jewelry and constantly reading to feed her love of literature and art.
Give ‘Em Hope Awards 2021 Winners
“Hopeful Future” by Lynn Nguyen
I created this art piece “Hopeful Future” in these mentally challenging times. For the theme of “hope” I wanted to portray the light of the future and the road we have ahead of us. It may be difficult at times to get out of our own heads, that we feel stuck in the present and can’t see what may happen in the future.
During the duration of the quarantine due to covid-19, my mental health took a dive to a really low place. I stayed in my room until past sunset and would only eat once a day really late at night. I would barely have the energy to wake up for classes and sleep into the afternoon. My motivation and productivity rates dipped really low too and school assignments seemed to always get harder and harder.
Illustrating this piece, I wanted to convey the hopeful light of tomorrow. Bad times don’t last forever and there is always a road ahead of us for countless possibilities to make a brighter future, and something to look forward to.
“Darling” by Qamar Saitovski
One of the most fascinating things I’ve learned from the pandemic is that our connections with each other never go away – not even when we’re isolated at home. The goal of this poem was to be comforting and offer hope, but also not ignore the fact we are suffering and times are difficult right now.
I use the symbolism of rain because it truly is a reflection of what each day feels like dreary, dark, and grey. As the poem recital continues, the background gets brighter and brighter, because it applauds the fact that we as a society are still keeping it together through this challenging time. By the end of it, we will only come out stronger, and we will eventually find the sun at the end of this storm.
“Cranes In The Sky” by Lauryn Williams
This dance is supposed to represent all of the things I try and do to get myself out of a creative funk and try and keep the ball rolling. Due to Covid a lot of the artistic things that really are a part of my natural genetic makeup have been halted and or reconstructed to better
conform to the new societal norms, and it has really taken the fun and the best parts out of everything. I’ve found that the things I have always known and grown to love are now becoming less fun and more of a hardship. So, creating this dance is me jumping out of my comfort zone and out of this funk to try and move with the tide of time and nd that love and spark I once felt for my trade.
“All The Things I’ve Left Behind” by Savannah Martinez
When I think of hope, I think of today’s situation. There were so many traumatic and tragic events that happened in the past year. I have felt so much pain, but I have experienced so much growth because of quarantine specifically.
Songwriting has been such a fantastic stress reliever and therapy for me. I love to write literally. Telling it how it is straight because I want my lyrics and songs to be accessible to anyone for good understanding. Writing during quarantine gives me space to think and the opportunity to process my thoughts. I think quarantine gives everyone a chance to think about who they are and who they want to be. Before, I never really took the time to focus on my feelings or think about what made me happy. When I look back on memories and pictures, I seemed so happy, but I have to remember that things have changed. I was too harsh on myself in quarantine, from gaining weight to some days not getting out of bed. I know I’m not alone.
“See Our Humanity” by Tiya Birru
This work is based on the many stories of black children being abused by police put in school to “protect them”. These students are beaten, kicked, choked, and slammed into the ground by these policemen and this piece is based on the perspective of one student who shows not only their anger towards the police but as well as their hope to change them and their actions to these students.
