At the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, Seattle artists began painting murals on boarded-up windows of businesses to deter vandalism and beautify the neighborhoods. And as social isolation evolved into a social movement protesting racial injustice and the killing of Black people by police, artists continued to take the streets with spray cans and paintbrushes. In this video, a few of the many artists who have painted messages of heartbreak and hope reflect on the role of art amid social upheaval.

Sadie Pimpleton is a single grandmother raising her grandchildren in Seattle. She recently survived COVID-19. She spent five days in the hospital and remembers feeling like it was the end for her. She is now back home and adjusting to life in lockdown with her grandkids. She leans on her community of other grandmothers and on her faith for support. The grandmothers group started sewing masks together as a way to cope, by doing something to help others. Pimpleton says things like sewing masks and her church livestreams every Sunday are what get her through each week.

"I'm worried that my grandparents are going to die." "I'm worried that when I come back to school not all my friends will be there." These are some of the statements that Caitlin McNulty, a kindergarten teacher in Shoreline School District's North City Elementary, has to navigate. Teaching remotely from her apartment, McNulty and her colleagues have faced many challenges as they aim to provide an equitable education to students in isolation during the coronavirus pandemic.