

This article, winner of the Spark Creativity Award 2025 (Art Journal Foundation, India), investigates a critical barrier to artistic development in adolescence. Drawing on Viktor Lowenfeld's concept of the "Gang Stage," it explores how peer rejection and the quest for belonging can lead students to abandon drawing. Through classroom observations and the "IMPACTion" exhibition project in Ghana, the author argues for pedagogical shifts that protect creative voice by prioritizing personal narrative, safe critique, and non-traditional materials over technical skill and competition.