Artists Will Nemitoff and Ayo Scott, with support from the Arts Council New Orleans, seek to deliver hopeful sentiments to healthcare workers and their patients in this uncertain time. The artist partnership will bring together messages from local poets with face shields created by Curious Form as a creative manner of inspiring and protecting the 10,000 New Orleans frontline workers.
Will Nemitoff is an installation artist and the founder of Curious Form, a locally based art and design company. As New Orleans began to face shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, Nemitoff took initiative to transform his art studio to a face shield production site to provide healthcare workers with PPE.
“When I heard about the shortages of PPE and the huge rise in unemployment, I knew I could do something to help my city,” said Nemitoff.
Through the help of crowdfunding and the local community, Curious Form has been able to successfully provide 1,200 face shields to hospitals throughout Louisiana. Keeping in part with their goal to support the community, Curious Form employed laid off workers, performers, and musicians to help with their efforts.
Visual artist and graphic designer Ayo Scott, who works with spoken word artists and poets, also shifted his work to assist the community during the crisis. Describing the inspiration for his work in this time, Scott says “I heard a story about how hard it was for healthcare workers to look in the faces of coronavirus patients and tell them everything would be okay. I thought how much better it would be if those messages could be outsourced to people who had a way with words.”
The Arts Council New Orleans, which has worked separately with both Nemitoff and Scott on past projects, noted the two artists shared artistic missions and brought the collaboration together. The words of local poets Scott works with — including Sha’Condria “iCon” Sibley, Tarriona “Tank” Ball, Akeem “Olaj” Martin, Ehren “Kataalyst” Alcindor, and Michael “A Scribe Called Quess” Moore — will be condensed into shortened sentiments of hope, reassurance, and comfort. These affirming phrases will be displayed on the face shields created by Curious Form.
Curious Form has set a goal to produce 10,000 face shields, with the funding from the Arts Council sufficient to produce 500. In order to reach this goal, Curious Form is actively encouraging partnerships as well as donations so all 10,000 face shields can be donated to healthcare facilities and workers. Executive Director of the Arts Council, Alphonse Smith, states “We are excited to support this collaboration between two very talented artists. It is one of many examples of artists using their skill and ability to make a direct impact in the wake of a serious health crisis. We hope the community supports Curious Form’s effort and recognizes the intrinsic value of art as an instrument of change.”
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