Love Story
Mei K.
Oil pastel
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Dominant views of love are cisgender and heterosexual. These traditional norms, dripping in pink, plush, and antiquated decor, can turn love into a crushing force. I sit in the center, paralyzed and saturated in contrasting green. This was one of the 11 pieces in my AP Art Portfolio, which I created as a visual letter to my future self, describing the liminal period between childhood and adulthood. I explore the interactions between identity and society set off by adolescence, and their implications for love, gender, body image, and mental health. I express these concepts through vivid and nostalgic colors, exaggerated and dreamlike settings, and evocative textures.
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Although I am both a visual artist and a creative writer, all my art stems from a lifelong compulsion to tell stories. My paintings and pastels attempt to capture narratives in static images---to make the everyday meaningful and the impossible possible.
