Guaniquilla Puerto Rico

Muralist Elvis Arroyo paints the Puerto Rican flag on a gazebo roof in his community of Guaniquilla, Puerto Rico. Community beautification organization Los Guardianes de la Costa de Guaniquilla commissioned the rooftop mural, which will be visible to the airplanes that fly over the coast.

Kisangani, DRC

Boyemba Bakumi and his daughter Jeanne Gradi Bakumi, 13, paint a mural to raise awareness of malaria in Kabondo, a neighborhood in Kisangani, Democratic Republic of Congo. Their mural encourages families to sleep under insecticide-treated bed nets and advertises the next public net distribution.

Vavuniya, Sri Lanka

Subban Thyagaraja paints cement pottery at his home workshop in Vavuniya, a city in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province. Industries like Thyagaraja’s are seeing a gradual increase in business since they were shut down due to the coronavirus.

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Tamiraa Narantsatsral paints a recycled wine bottle at the Natsagdorj Library in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Tamiraa is part of a Facebook group, “Redesigned Fashion. Lifestyle,” that saves and redesigns recycled materials, like glass bottles and clothing, to promote environmentalism.

Kalviyankadu Sri Lanka

From left, Iyaththurai Sajeeban, 18; Jeral Nishanthan Ninujan, 18; and Selvaratnam Puvikaran, 27, decorate pots in Kalviyankadu, a village in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province. The pots are for Thai Pongal, a Hindu harvest festival celebrated in January.

San Antonino Castillo Velasco, Oaxaca, Mexico

José Antonio García works on a clay model at his family’s workshop in San Antonino Castillo Velasco, Oaxaca, Mexico. García developed glaucoma 18 years ago, which caused him to go blind. He asked his wife, Reina Mendoza Sánchez, to help him continue his work. Now, García shapes the pieces, and Mendoza adds the details.

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Odgerel Bayasgalan paints his graduate thesis painting, a self-portrait titled, “My Story,” in his home in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Odgerel, 20, is in his last year in the painting program at the School of Fine Arts and Design at the Mongolian State University of Arts and Culture.

Tlacolula de Matamoros, Oaxaca, Mexico

Tamara Rivas uses a process called randa to make a Tlacolula garment at her home in Tlacolula de Matamoros, Oaxaca. There are only a few craftspeople left who practice the difficult randa process. Local women wear these traditional garments to an annual community celebration, and they’re often passed down from mother to daughter.

Puebla, Puebla, Mexico

Martha Cuevas performs traditional songs with mariachi group Mariachi Alma Ranchera during a Sunday concert in the central courtyard of Casa de la Cultura José Ángel Palou Pérez, in the city of Puebla, Mexico. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, members of the group had to remain a safe distance apart from one another.

Erdenet, Orkhon Province, Mongolia

Terbish Munkhbayasgalan, left, a 12th grade student, and Gantulga Odonbyamba, in 10th grade, write in traditional Mongolian script during “Book Festival,” an event to encourage preservation of the script and traditional culture, in Erdenet, a city in Mongolia’s Orkhon province. Terbish and Gantulga both take an extracurricular class at school to practice this writing system.

Mutare, Zimbabwe

Clement Madi Makonde adds some finishing touches to one of the wood carvings he made while at the Mutare Farm Prison in Mutare, Zimbabwe. Makonde, who was imprisoned in 2014, says he spends most of his time making his art, which includes door mats, handbags, hats and wooden cooking utensils.

San Bartolo Coyotepec, Oaxaca, Mexico

Carlo Magno sculpts with clay collected from a nearby hill in San Bartolo Coyotepec, a town in Oaxaca, Mexico. After molding, the clay goes through a special firing process that gives local ceramics a distinctive black color.

Erdenet, Orkhon Province, Mongolia

Tuvshinjargal Batsukh, an actress at the Children and Youth Theater in Orkhon province, reads books to children during a book festival held at Amar Square, in Erdenet, Mongolia. Tuvshinjargal participated to encourage parents to read to their children.

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

To promote traditional Mongolian script through art, Sergelen Bayasgalan, left, and Togtuun Erdenebileg paint a poem in the script along with a portrait of the author, Rinchen Byambyn, a founder of modern Mongolian literature, on a wall in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The poem reads, “Although there are many beautiful places in this colorful universe / There is no place more beautiful than my native land / Although every language is great to study virtue / There is no greater language than our mother tongue.”

San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico

Ivette Gutiérrez makes a necklace at her workshop in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico. Gutiérrez designs and creates clothing and accessories with recycled material. “Any piece of material, broken necklace or unworn dress,” she says, “can be turned into a piece of recycled art and have a new life.”

Mayagüez, Puerto Rico

Jacqueline Villarubia practices the drum at a small art studio in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. This drum is a key instrument in bomba, a genre of music with roots in Africa and now traditional to Puerto Rico. Villarubia wanted to understand the genre and decided to take private classes to learn the basics. She practiced a rhythm called calindá first, and later one called holandés, which is characteristic of Mayagüez, on the western part of the island.

San Pablo Villa de Mitla, Oaxaca, Mexico

Arturo Hernández makes a shawl with a homemade spinning wheel in San Pablo Villa de Mitla, a town in Mexico’s Oaxaca state. Hernández began to learn the art of weaving when he was seven years old. Today, he is a master Zapotec weaver.

Murun, Khuvsgul Province, Mongolia

Erdenechimeg Enkhbat spots Uranbayar Delgermaa, 10, during a contortion class at the Contortion Center at the Children’s Palace in Murun, a city in Mongolia’s Khuvsgul province. According to a 2013 order from the Minister of Education, Culture, Science and Sports, contortionism is on the national register of Mongolia’s intangible cultural heritages – and urgently needs to be preserved.

Puebla, Mexico

Luis Fernando Vélez restores a bronze sculpture at his workshop in Puebla, Mexico. The piece has been sanded and polished, and the coating he is applying will accentuate both the texture and detail of the sculpture.

Puebla, Mexico

Gabriela Arellano, a member of The Clay Sisters Theater Collective, performs for a social media video in the historic center of Puebla, Mexico. The performance is about three generations of women and their relationship with the courtyard space. The collective is recording in the small courtyard since the coronavirus has limited stage performances.

Macrina Mateo works on a piece of pottery in San Marcos Tlapazola, a town in Mexico’s Oaxaca state. This community in the Central Valleys region is inhabited by the Zapotec people and is known for pottery made from the yellow and red clay around its mountains.

Wakiso District, Uganda

Mawe Mawe, a musician, rehearses outside his home in Kitukutwe, a neighborhood in Uganda’s Wakiso district. Since the coronavirus pandemic began, Mawe has turned to tailoring clothes to earn an income.

Puebla, Puebla, Mexico

Cristian Romero, a dancer, producer and the director of the Mas Beat dance academy, performs for drivers at a red light in the El Carmen neighborhood of Puebla, Puebla, Mexico. Since dance companies and art centers have closed, artists like Romero have taken to the streets to share their routines for donations. “We have no choice but to put our hearts into it,” Romero says.

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Sharon “Chachi” González Colón one of the original founders of Colectivo Moriviví, a collective of women artists, paints a mural of a girl with soapy hands and bubbles, titled, “El Distanciamiento es Físico No Social” in Santurce, a neighborhood in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The mural intends to be a message of prevention, support and solidarity in the face of the coronavirus.