2024 Submissions
Big Shoes to Fill
I look up to my mom in so many ways, she is intelligent, kind hearted, and always makes me laugh. She has worked so hard to get to where she is today, and I'm strive to be like her. These shoes are like a pair my mom wears, I strive to be like my mom and fill her shoes.
A Prayer for Peace
Over the car radio, a girl my age pleaded for the bombings of her home to cease. Air raids turned her school to dust. Her little sister lost her life to sniper fire. Beside me, my own sister hummed along to the music in her headphones, oblivious to the horrors in the news. To be honest, I’m not very educated about the histories behind the wars I’m growing up with. Before the explosions began, I didn’t consider the lives of other teenagers in Ukraine, Palestine, or Israel. I focused on the trials and tribulations of my own story. But as the terror and violence continues to be publicized, I realize that I must care about those outside my Bay Area bubble. The girl on the radio could be me, born in a different country. My sister could be dead by bullet, caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Only random luck keeps my childhood house and the dreams in it from becoming rubble, too. So I contribute my own voice to the millions begging for the killing to end. My fragile paper artwork represents the hopes of people victimized by war. The beautiful, vulnerable threads of those lives can be broken by hate, but also preserved by compassion. They ask for empathy. They ask for deliverance. Compared to the scale of the conflicts, “A Prayer for Peace” may not be much, but if my piece can move even one person to kindness, that will at least be something.
Anew
Similar to how new life may grow out of dead trees, Anew depicts how I am growing into another person, into someone new. Change is an inevitable part of life, no matter how much one tries to stop it. It can be seen as something positive, something negative, or something somewhere in the middle. The wire sculpture surrounding the ceramic components represents who I am now. It represents how I am taking parts of my past (the ceramic sculpture), and growing into a new person from that. The blood vessels extend into the old me, supplying the heart with bits and pieces of who I used to be. My heart rests in a different place now, as my identity is changing, and my loves and interests are no longer what they used to be. Although the wire is far less structurally sound than the solid ceramics, just like how I am still developing into who I truly want to be, it is the truth, and I cannot change it.
Zero: Deception
Zero: Deception is a piece made to capture the start of a tale. It is the first illustration of the a scene that takes place before a short story I wrote, that is the prologue to a novel I am hoping to finish. It is a very clear image I have had in my mind since the beginning of my idea, with a specific art style outside of my comfort zone that I am proud to have brought to life. This piece signifies not only a start to my story, but a new start for me as a creator. I hope that viewers of this artwork, even knowing not the writing that accompanies it, will have their own ideas of the story inspired in their minds by its visuals.
Zara the Amazing Creator
A black and white value scale self portrait using acrylic paint. I first started with a pencil sketch, then blocked out the background in all black. I start off with the darkest values in the eyes, nose, and mouth. I used an even gray shade on the skin and with layers I added highlights with white paint and shadows with black paint to the face to give it a realistic touch. I then worked my way around the portrait by using layers of black and gray for the lips, hand, and the rest of the features. I used a reference photo for the painting to help guide me to get the correct lighting, and dark values. I made the reference photo with procreate.
Youth
In this art piece, I took inspiration from Mario Games because I think our life is just like Mario Games. Even though you might face some obstacles you have no choice but to keep going, that’s how life works. I chose to draw a big Daisy field in the background to represent youth. The person in the middle of painting is holding a bucket to collect items. I drew that to represent how in the struggles, what we get out of that is experiences that may be useful in the future.
You Don't Mind
This painting represents the struggle that victims of sexual harassment have to face, especially between pretending as if they don't care and telling someone. Often, the victim is told that they are overreacting, and the harasser will play it off as a joke. I was motivated to make this piece after hearing stories about this topic from people I know, as well as my own experience. In the piece, hands come around the person in the center, reaching out and touching them, while the person looks downwards with their eyes closed, acting as if they are nonchalant in this situation.
Alone
This piece resonated with the experience of loosing a friend by suicide about four to five years ago. The grief and empty feelings I got were very intense and took me years to move on from. The art signifies all these parts where the empty swing is for my late friend, the sunset is for the reminiscent and nostalgic, but lonely feeling to build out the mixed feelings I had, the white flower is like a grave, and the cracked ruins and vines are the symbol for breaking and healing, that this grief will be repaired but not forgetting what happened and growing from that. Even if it gets lonely and giving up may seem like the easier option, the reminder that it will only get better as the lesson we learn through our life and we should do that to the fullest.
Yosemite
The beauty of the valley goes unseen to the naked eye. The abstract colors of the rigid rocks, rippes of the water, plain grass. Looking up at the starry night skies. I had a vision of sitting by the water and experiencing the nature of this landmark. I chose this artwork because I believe everyone should be able to feel this moment. Admiring the beauty of our earth’s creation.
Ya Estoy Madura?
This artwork is a front book cover of a short novel I wrote for a class. Tomatos are a crop grown in mexico, and the main character ate and lived in the fields. The Title "Ya Estoy Madura" is a play on words, in English it can translate to "Am I ripe yet?" or "Am I mature yet?" Firstly I sketched out thumbnails and once I had an Idea I approved of I went into illustator staring with the tomatoes and then the background.
Golden Lotus
This artwork encapsulates the enduring narrative of women's suffering due to oppressive beauty standards. At its core, the piece portrays a woman whose existence was marred by a lifetime of agony stemming from the gruesome practice of footbinding. This tradition involved the deliberate breaking, binding, and bending of her feet to attain the coveted "golden lotus" shape, a deformity celebrated as beautiful. Her blurred face speaks volumes, serving as a powerful symbol of the profound loss of identity she endured. In a world that fixated solely on the size and deformity of her feet, her true self was rendered invisible. The addition of fictional wings within the artwork takes the symbolism further, evoking the notion of denied freedom and diminished power. The juxtaposition of delicate, bird-like shoes on flying birds adds layers of complexity to the narrative. It depicts the woman as an object of beauty, seemingly "rising" in society, but in reality, her ascent is built upon her physical suffering, showcasing the tragic cost of conforming to oppressive beauty standards. This artwork speaks to the broader human experience, calling attention to the historical and ongoing struggles women have faced in societies that have sought to define them through superficial and often physically painful standards of beauty. It serves as a haunting reminder of the depths of endurance and suffering that some have endured in the name of conformity, while simultaneously highlighting the need to challenge such harmful norms and celebrate the true essence of individuality and freedom.
X Masterpiece
I put a lot of work and effort on this and I did the best I can with just colored pencils. I am very proud of my artwork and I put a lot of of time into this. I hope you enjoy my masterpiece.
Wrinkles in Life
Our daily challenges in life are like the wrinkles on this fabric. You can always smooth them over with your efforts and begin anew. Every day brings new possibilities with it. I used soft pastels to create this piece because their rich colors enhance the illusion of folds.
Wrap It Right!
A very common family activity in Asian households is wrapping dumplings. They may not come out the best and your aunties are sure to point that out.
And I Clutch My Transexualism Tight Between My Teeth
As a trans man myself, representing trans identities and bodies in different perspectives and unexpected contexts is deeply important to me. These figures represent pain and resilience often felt in the trans community. I want to bring trans figures out of stereotyped poses and force the audience to see them as both strong and vulnerable. Self determination and bodily autonimy are deeply imporrtant to me, and I want my portrayal of trans bodies to represent this.
All the places the light has been, All the light that can be seen
Paper is the soul of origami. The choice of paper is one of the most intentional design decisions. I chose origami paper with patterns that play with light traveling through space and made folds that highlight convexity and concavity, which are both central to the idea of light emanating, traveling, illuminating and bouncing back. The pieces Convexity and Concavity are modular polyhedral tessellations playing on the nature of lenses and light. My submission is inspired by my interests in physics and photography. Stargazing in my backyard, I was struck by starlight. There are around 9000 visible stars in the sky. While these visible stars produce trillions of megawatts of light, an infinitesimally small fraction of it reaches the Earth, and the light from these stars makes up 0.0000002% of the total starlight reaching the Earth. All that we see on Earth is made possible by light, and it struck me that while there is so much light out there, so little of it reaches us. We use an even smaller fraction of it to perceive our world. Light is part of the electro-magnetic spectrum and carries information, both in the visual sense and digital senses. While there is so much light, there isn’t as much understanding. These starlight themed pieces illustrate the folded nature of space and time as light travels through them, bringing slices, edges, and folds of our universe into focus for one fractionally infinitesimal slice of time, illuminating what we see and understand in that instant.
Academic Burnout
Through my work, I capture the feeling of being overwhelmed by the demands of family and school. I explore the emotional strain of academic burnout, using bold colors to emphasize the weight of the pressures and linework to convey confinement. I used iconography to convey specific meanings and add conceptual depth to the piece. Some prominent elements include the hierarchical focus on the pencil to demonstrate how much stress students like me feel to excel in school, and how it can all be done with a single pencil. The flame represents my drive, and shows how this motivational force to succeed can be the same force that is eroding away at my mind, showing the toll academic pressures has taken on my mental health. The background is made up of collapsing buildings to demonstrate the lack of control students can feel over other areas of life when they are putting so much of themselves into academics. The piece includes a life-size painting of myself, acting as a mirror-like projection of me confronting emotions I have avoided. I hope viewers relate and find comfort in the idea that they are not alone.
A Walk Through Chinatown
This painting, “A Walk Through Chinatown”, depicts my grandma (the one in the blue bucket hat) walking into our favorite fortune cookie shop in Chinatown. I wanted the main focal point to be on my grandma, so I intentionally made the background a brighter red and simplified it into more geometric shapes to contrast with my grandma’s blue and organic clothing. This is one of my favorite pieces because I feel that it truly represents my grandma, from her iconic red handbag to the fortune cookie shop where we shared many happy memories.
A Feast Fit for Kings
This piece is commentary on the exploitation of the working class by the rich. Each plate represents an industry: agriculture, education, fast fashion, plumbing, and electrical engineering. The hands eagerly reach for the plates, animalistic and not using utensils. I chose body parts for the main focus of each plate, such as spines for farmers as they often bend down for long hours and develop back issues. I chose fingers for the fast fashion plate as people will get their fingers caught in the sewing machines, the blood blending in with the fabrics and cloth. Each plate has features that are cut out, which I layered with cardboard to create a 3D effect. I chose to capture the final image with a tablecloth, creating a physical table of plates and hands. The end result is gory and disturbing, reminiscent of our reality.