Different Ships, Same Storm

About Different Ships, Same Storm

“We never thought that our worlds would grow larger during a pandemic that confined us to our homes, limiting our social interactions. Different Ships, Same Storm expanded our world. This global community of creative youth met virtually to share pictures and prose about the pandemic. Together we became a powerful community of students eager to learn from each other. We grew connected during a time when our real world interactions, routines and pastimes were limited.

Each of us had so many questions:

How has the world around me changed?
How has my relationship to my home changed?
What have I gained new appreciation for?
What am I noticing now that I never noticed before?

These questions guided us in our photography class and ignited our curiosity about other’s experience of the pandemic. The questions became the basis of prompts that were shared with each new community of students to join the project.  

What began as a conversation in Elizabeth Eagle’s photography course at the Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn, New York, grew into a vital global forum through which we shared our changing worlds during the pandemic.

Our mentors Liz Titone of e2 education & environment and Brendan Bannon of Most Important Picture, worked with Elizabeth Eagle to develop a program that connected us with communities in Buffalo, NY, Portland, Oregon, Port Elizabeth, South Africa, Tel Aviv Israel, Siem Reap, Cambodia, Tampico, Mexico and Pasadena, California. 

Through a online gallery we were able to see, read and comment on each other's work as it was posted to our community gallery. Now we share that work with the rest of the world. This website and our Instagram page feature work made during the pandemic. Each of our photographs is amplified by our poetry or prose. 

Different Ships, Same Storm has allowed us to tap into the power of photography and writing to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our lives. We are happy to be part of an ever-growing community of photographers and writers from all over the world who are constantly reflecting, learning and sharing during these difficult times.

You can join us informally by sharing your work via email. If you’re a student or educator and want to hear more about Different Ships Same Storm program please email us for more info.”

— Lula and Sam, Navigators