This piece was created as an expression of my frustration with the status quo. As a student, I've grown used to the news of people losing their lives over things like school violence, the color of their skin, or their identity. I've heard of schools in my town undergoing lockdowns or having weapons on campus, and in just this past month I was notified that a university I was planning to attend had three casualties due to school violence. Since art is my vessel for how I feel, I decided to represent my frustration with this growing problem through this lonely composition. I don't plan on stopping my education at high school, but my distant fear about public spaces is reflected in the girl in the photo: when will it be me?

This is a piece of furniture basically drawn from my memory. It is what I can recall from my grandmothers house growing up, and I haven't been back there in over 8 years, so having this piece makes me feel like I have a piece of that and of her with me. I remember she had a stereo that we only used a few times, and there were porcelain animals that she loved to collect to decorate the house with, which explains the frog and the cow. The portrait shown is inspired by one she had in her house of her and my grandpa. The pieces of cloth shown over the stereo and under the vase of flowers, are the type of art my grandma likes to make she always will have some sort of yarn in her hand, so I wanted to represnt that as well. The background is simply pink because of my other grandma's house being that color, so certain shades of pink are very comforting due to that I wanted to incorporate that feeling as well.

This piece is a post-modern self portrait. I stretched a patterned fabric over a canvas and used acrylic paint after covering it in clear gesso. I have painted two versions of my own head, looking quite disgusted, sitting on golden platters. Below the heads are green fruit; grapes, kiwis and pears. I was inspired by the stories about Marie Antoinette and this idea of very opulent and excessive royal portraits. I intended it to be humorous and lean into the ways we see people, including ourselves.

Yoruban mythology, originating in Nigeria, depicts very intricate and unique folklore. Particularly, the creation story in Yoruban mythology caught my eye. Ọbàtálá, the sky father, is described as he who came down to Earth and created land with solely golden chains, a snail shell filled with sand, a white hen, palm nut, and black cat. He is the creator of human bodies in addition to being the deity of light. With this in mind, I looked to traditional imagery of the Orisha (spirit) and replicated it with my own twist. Often depicted with white clothing and a hat, I followed suit, in addition to showing the light he can create. This piece serves as my representation of what I've learned from this intricate and beautiful mythology. Additionally to Ọbàtálá, another point in Yoruban beliefs is that the Milky Way is little chicks which follow a hen (the moon). I thought this was a very unique mythological interpretation of space, and made sure to put it in the piece as well.

I liked the idea of having a setting in two different time periods and wanted to put my own spin on it. I decided to have a dull and gray city, with very geometric architecture, and depict what it could look like if nature took over, with lots of plants and overgrowth scattered all around.

The movie theater has done lots for me. Me and my best friends had gotten into an argument, and we had stopped talking for several weeks. However, when I heard about the release of Scream 6, I couldn't help but think about them yet again. We had watched all the Scream movies together, and watching one without them would feel strange. I decided to reach out and ask if they would like to watch it with me. Surprisingly, they accepted and we spent the day catching up, laughing and apologizing. I decided to draw this day in theater, as I cherish the moment very much and it represents the friendship between my two best friends.

This artwork is a watercolor painting of my mother's nook. Through out the years my mother got into multiple hobbies such as crochet, knitting, and origami. Each creation is then placed in a part of the nook, thus creating her crafting corner. When I asked my mom how she would describe her corner, she replied with, "stress-free." In order to portray a feeling of calm and stress-free I painting the corner with bright, warm walls.

This piece represents one's helplessness in moving forward. Weighted strands, made of resource materials, beeswax, thread, and paint, pull down the stretched figure. It is frozen in its suffering. Unable to get back up.

This piece highlights the coffee in the center, using warm-toned browns and reds to paint the drink, while cool colors occupy the space around it, framing the piece. Where the milk hits the coffee, oranges and reds appear; highlights in the background are lighter blue than the rest, but never dull. The use of complementary, vivid colors, with crossovers like orange spots in the background and hints of blue in the milk, bring visual balance to the image. The shapes involved also bring the onlooker’s focus to the center. The background is full of straight lines and blocky colors, but the milk being poured into the coffee is swirling with organic shapes and full of movement.

This piece was first based on a collage I made with magazine cutouts. Surrealist paintings inspired me to make a similar work, and I mainly chose figures and buildings. I appreciated drawing architecture and wanted to combine it with my interest in displaying human expression and motion. This piece was done completely in acrylic paint on a 25-inch by 38-inch piece of stretched canvas that I gessoed myself. I wanted to play with unreal color to enhance the strained emotion shown in the piece, along with strange additions to show the complexity and confusion in life, such as the deer in the bottom right corner. The running figures represent how life is a constant moving battle, the cities demonstrating the need to constantly achieve a better life, a dream life, and the face in the top right shows the expression of both pain and laughter, leaving the viewer to wonder which emotion resonates better with the painting and with their lives. The abstract blocks show the parts of life we have not discovered yet, how they are yet to be depicted, and until then, just figures in our imagination. This piece evokes the confusion one feels in the direction their life is going, yet the constant need to keep pushing through and creating progress to make themselves feel stable.

I was around two years old when my parents divorced. My mother raised my brother and I, with assistance from both sides of the family. As I grew older, I had a growing sense of disconnection from my family. My father is Mexican and Creole, while my mother is white. As a result of either strange questions about "what I was?" from classmates or encounters with relatives I felt that I wasn't quite white, creole, or Mexican enough to be a part of any group. My heritage became less of a cohesive identity that encompassed both sides of my family and more of a patchwork of people and places that was neither. To explore how I periodically still feel like a collection of thoughts that have been thrown together by accident and life experience, I created these two pieces. I made an effort to convey an awkwardness in my face at how uncomfortable my identity became. These ideas were also intended to be reflected in the piece's construction. After the portrait was finished, I cut the canvas straight across and stitched it back together using embroidery floss. In comparison, my mother's portrait is far more cohesive and certain. Although she is knit together in her own way, the blue sketch lines visible from beneath her skin, the painting is on a sturdy wood board. I wanted to convey that she has found an equilibrium in her identity where she is happy. An equilibrium that I also aim to achieve someday.

For this piece I was inspired by traditional still life artworks that feature fruits, wine, pottery, and other objects from the 17th century. To represent modern society, I replaced some of these traditional objects with packaged processed foods, prescription medication, and an electronic device charging cord. The painting, instead of being on canvas, was painted onto a section of an Amazon delivery box to represent modern preoccupation with consumerism and convenience. This piece is satirical in its subject matter as it is a comment on flaws in our society that are detrimental to our health and our planet’s health.

"Missing Piece", displays the architectural designs of the two most reoccurring locations in my childhood that was of significance to me. As one of the locations is in Korea, my grandmother’s house, and the other is a playground that represents my youth in America, it reveals the cultural sides of my story. The “missing [puzzle] piece” between the two architectural designs is the missing memories of those locations in my childhood. “Missing Piece” represents the ability to lose recollection of memories that one were most fond of. While reminiscing my childhood, I realized that I will always have a “missing piece” that I am unable to retain to connect back with the child version of myself but will always be searching for.

It took me a month to complete my work in the afternoon after I returned home from my homework. Peking Opera is China's intangible traditional culture. People of the older generation still like to listen to operas. We must take responsibility and not let the culture decline. Huadan is a traditional Chinese opera role. She is an image of a young or middle-aged woman with an optimistic and energetic personality, strong self-confidence, and a love of freedom. Hua Dan's ending and character performance often have a bit of comedy. I like Hua Dan’s makeup and styling accessories very much. I have always wanted to take a set of photos like this, but I haven’t found a suitable opportunity. Through this competition in the Bay Area, I can draw the look I have long liked, and I can also paint a broad and profound picture of China. Bringing our culture to the world is something I am more proud of.

This drawing, titled "Memories of Childhood," is a heartfelt tribute to my beloved dog who passed away last year. Through this piece, I aim to capture the profound connection we shared during my formative years. It's a tribute not just to my loyal companion, but to the nostalgia, innocence, and warmth of childhood. In this artwork, I've tried to preserve the essence of those precious moments and the indelible mark left by my faithful canine friend.