In Malawi, approximately two-thirds of children live in extreme poverty, and only one-third are able to attend high school.
The Memory Project serves as a way to show appreciation for these children and encourage them.
For the seventh year, Cal High art students have participated in the Memory Project and given underprivileged children a way to feel appreciated by creating personalized portraits of them.
This year, about a dozen Art 2 and 3 students made portraits for children in Malawi, a southeastern African country near Zambia. Students worked on these portraits since January and finished their work in late February and early March.
Sophomore Bavagna Sai Gunti, an Art 2 student who participated in the Memory Project, is hopeful the children will like the portraits.
“It was really fun, but also there was a little bit of pressure because it was actually going to go to someone,” Gunti said. “I really hope that they like it, but it was still really fun to draw.”
According to the official Memory Project website, memoryproject.org, the program was created to cheer on and support children in need. Not only does it provide Malawi children with the opportunity to see a portrait made of themselves, but it also involves youth in 57 different countries.
In previous years, Cal students have created portraits for youth in Afghanistan, the former USSR, India, Nigeria, Syria, and Malaysia.
This is the sixth year Cal art teacher Erin Parsons has participated in this project for Art 2 and 3 students.
The teacher before Parsons had participated in the Memory Project in 2018, so when Parsons began teaching at Cal in 2019 she decided to continue the tradition.
Parsons thinks the Memory Project is a good way for art students to form connections with children and help people feel seen using their art.
“That connection, that moment of appreciation, is why I continue doing this project every year,” Parsons said. “It’s a beautiful way for students to see how meaningful their work can be to others, and it reinforces the empathy and care that goes into creating something so personal. It truly is a special experience.”
For students to participate in the project, educators need to sign up on the Memory Project website. Once this is done, students are connected with children who need portraits.
“It’s a well-organized system, and once you’re connected, the organization provides all the necessary materials and guidance to get started,” Parsons said.
Senior Naomi Russell, an Art 2 student who participated in the project, viewed the Memory Project as a good opportunity to make a difference for children across the world and show them that they are cared for.
“I think it’s pretty cool. It was fun working on it,” Russell said. “I’m excited. I know we won’t get anything back from them, but it’s [nice].”
Art students should receive responses from the children about their portraits in a couple of months.
Sophomore Sanvita Varanasi, another Art 2 student who made a portrait, said that when drawing the portraits, students started with a sketch and added more color as they went on, using colored pencils.
“I started with tracing a sketch and I figured out where the undertones were,” Varanasi said. “So some were cool toned, some were warm toned. [On] my person, there were a lot of orange undertones, so I started with an orange and built my way up to a browner skin tone.”
Although the project was interesting for art students, there was also the pressure that came with accurately drawing the Malawi children.
Art students also incorporated the children’s interests into their portraits to make them more personal. Students said they included many of these aspects in the backgrounds of the portraits.
“We personalized it by adding what their interests are,” Russell said. “Mine liked soccer, so I put soccer.”
The Memory Project is an opportunity for artists to not only create change but also to know that their work will be appreciated by children. “I feel like if I were a little kid getting a portrait of myself, that would be pretty cool,” Russell said. “I think it’s cool that we get to do that.”
