I shot this photograph of my dad to represent the ups and downs that Black people in America go through on a day-to-day basis. I took two separate photographs and then combined them. I had my dad smile and think of a positive memory for one of the photos and then I told him to have a straight face while he thought of a negative memory for the second photograph. To further demonstrate the message of the photo I made the positive memory have color and the negative memory be black and white.

"Conversation" I learned about the competition in my high school digital photography class and was inspired to create a photograph that represents our generation and current culture. As a French Citizen living in the Bay Area going to Berkeley High School, I often notice subtle differences in our cultures. I wanted my art piece to reflect one of the important differences I see daily. My art, Conversation, reflects the disconnection many teens face from the world. Most teens I see in the Bay Area do not have real face to face conversations. I often take time to enjoy the sunset when I am out walking my dog. Many people I see walking around do not seem to notice the sunset. There is a positive physiological connection we all make with eye-to-eye contact and real conversation. I chose the background to be a beautiful sunset with two people on their devices looking away from the sunset. They do not notice the sun is setting. I chose to use monochrome for the people in the image to emphasize their apathy to the beauty around them. They are disconnected from reality and just focused on their phones, rather than connecting on a deeper level enjoying each other’s company and real conversation. I want my artwork to inspire people to have real conversations which can help many teenagers feel more fulfilled. I hope my art will inspire families and teens to have more conversations and notice the beauty around them.

This photograph features Scout the golden retriever. It is rare to see her so contemplative, but I seized the moment. I reduced the light to come from a singular source, sat down with my phone, and waited for her to stop smiling at me. Finally, convinced I did not have a treat, she relented and gave me her model face. That is how I captured this photograph. Post model shoot, I edited the photograph. I cropped the image, decolorized it, and used dodging and burning techniques to highlight the sheen on Scout's fur and her beautiful eyes. I wanted the artwork to evoke curiosity. Who is arriving? Is the light coming from a door opening? What is Scout's opinion? I am very happy with the result of my work, and I am proud of my hard labor, even if Scout did most of it.

This piece is meant to be a show of irony, because while skeletons are generally representative of death, the skeleton in this piece is simply enjoying life.

In the town of Beacon, New York, I lay on the historic Hudson line tracks, a self-timer set to capture the solitary moment. This photograph is a meditation on my journey of life, with the vanishing point set just beneath my gaze, symbolizing the convergence of past and future. The leading lines of the railway guide the viewer's eye, leading toward the focal point; my contemplative face. It's a visual metaphor for introspection, the tracks a reminder of my life path and the uncharted ways ahead.

When I was in the third grade, my grandmother, who I rarely saw due to her living in Taiwan, was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. She had weeks left to live. I remember flying back to Taiwan during summer break to see her one last time. She passed the day I visited, and I was left with an empty, blue feeling that I didn’t know what to do with. A few days afterwards, my mom told me of the Japanese tradition, folding 1,000 paper cranes after someone has died could make one special wish come true. So I did fold one thousand of those origami birds for my grandmother. The day before her funeral we placed the cranes with her body, and I made my wish, which was for her to be happy and at peace in her afterlife. Ever since, paper cranes have held a special place in my heart, and I have all the steps of folding them memorized. They remind me of my grandmother, who has left a large impact on the person I am today. When making this piece, all I knew was that I wanted to honor her memory in some form. That’s where I got the idea for origami cranes, floating on a small, winding river, into a bright luminous light. The colors are meant to invoke a sense of melancholy, yet calming peace. That’s what I hoped for my grandmother and I hope now that my artwork expresses it as well.

Refugees share a unique, ongoing history. I decided to base my piece around the past and future of refugees, and their intrinsic connection. Through centuries of the human experience, people have fled their homes for different reasons; however, the unknowns they face, and the changes they undergo, are all analogous with a story of resilience and resourcefulness. The bright fabric of life entwined in their clothing; the insurmountable variety of refugees represented in a united obscurity; a mysterious figure wraps them up in an embrace. I dedicate this piece to refugees, like my mother and her family, who built comfortable lives for themselves in the US, and still–to this day–spare a thought for current refugee crises.

Welcome to my world. This is the entrance to my heart. Everything and everyone I hold dear lives here. On a spring day while hiking on Mt. Tamalpais, me and my family walked on a sea view trail with vast rolling hills and occasional forests. The nostalgic scenery reminded me of the landscapes common in the Ghibli studio films that dominated my childhood; the Joe Hisaishi song “One Summer’s Day” playing in my head. As we stepped out of one of the forests along the trail, we were met with an opening to the expansive grasslands and the sea. I instinctively stayed behind my family and framed them with the nature surrounding us. This photo is still one of my most iconic photos so far. I hold many things that are dear in my heart; this expansive world grows everyday, filled with the warmth from my childhood, the seasons of emotions, and even the harsh blizzards of life lessons. Towards the center of this world surround my best friends; some I’ve known since preschool while others I have met through other means. They have always been the stars that would help me through my struggles and our connections are strong, supporting each other hand in hand. At the core of my heart stand my family: my dad, mom, and my little sister. Each with their unique characteristics, we have stuck together through everything, deepening and strengthening our bonds. These are the people that keep my world alive.

This work explores the nature of truth and how it can shift and transform as it passes through multiple iterations, perceptions and viewpoints. At the bottom of the mobile is an undistorted piece representing the pure, atomic truth, and each subsequent piece is increasingly distorted to demonstrate how the truth can become distorted and tainted by the biases of individuals and the media. The way the mobile warps the colored light suggests the fragmented understanding of the truth that we often possess. By juxtaposing projections of nature and news on the mobile, this piece invites viewers to consider how their perception of truth can be influenced by others.

This artwork explores the varieties of identity and self-exploration. This oil painting captures a young man that is gazing into a mirror, with his masculine features slowly forming into feminine ones. I have had a hard time "fitting in" and trying to be someone who I am not, living in a predominantly white community. "Reflections of Inner Beauty" encourages myself, and others to remember that identity is not confined and can be expressed in many ways. While doing this oil painting, I wanted the audience to capture the outcome of this painting. It is how we perceive ourselves and how the society perceives us.

This is a statement piece about the double meaning of "Blue Collar". The man in this picture, Julian Vasquez, is a blue collar worker who works as a firefighter up in Oregon. At 25 years-old, he is putting his life on the line for our community. This picture illustrates the emotions and story of a blue collar worker as the colors cast a darker and moody-toned environment. The other meaning of "Blue Collar", is directed towards the dog, Ghost. At just three years-old, Ghost has spent his whole life with Julian. Ghost was diagnosed with a liver problem, and was only given about six more months to live. This was a year and a half ago. Through thick and thin, Ghost persevered through the challenges that were thrown at him in his life. Ghost is a reflection of Julian, as they've both faced and worked through obstacles that the average human would back down from. They will always stick together and use each other as someone to lean on.

Though I've been drawing and painting most of my life, a recent visit to an exhibit of Fredrick Edwin Church's paintings inspired me to shift my focus to very detailed landscapes. Since I was born and raised in San Francisco, I have been interested in the urban landscape. This nighttime scene was one that gave me the opportunity to explore new techniques in lighting and color theory.

My piece depicts a character's imaginary world that is only visible to her in her reflection. I used watercolor in order to give the piece a more painted, whimsical feel, and I used bright colors in order to contrast her imaginary world from her monotonous, duller real world.

This was one of my first times experimenting with unconventional poses in photography and I thoroughly enjoyed it. My friend Eloise and I decide to meet up at a park to do a little trade off, I model for her project and she for mine. However that particular day mother earth decided to cry all her tears and it was pouring rain. This photo was taken during a 3 minute break in the weather. We brainstormed poses while squeezing under Eloise’s umbrella and she reluctantly agreed to lay down on the dripping wet monkey bars so I could get this shot. In the next few photos she had an awkward wet line across her torso.

During the summer I went to Yosemite with my family and wanted to document it. One day we went to mirror lake and my cousin wanted go climb up the rock in the picture. When we were there I had my camera so I took the picture. I decided to make the photo black and white because it really showed the tonality in the picture and got rid of some busy colors.

I wanted to do some sort of representation of American Patriotism, but with how diverse our communities are these days, I decided instead of doing the typical American family, I would do a family of immigrants, representing the many families who move to America everyday, and who are new to the culture and community of America. Throughout making this piece, I tried my best to make sure to incorporate every detail, small or big, as they all contribute to the meaning and feeling behind this piece. From the wrinkly clothes, the bright colors of red, white, and blue, the mother's excited expression, to the hands holding the American flag, these all help bring the painting to life, and to let the viewer notice the hint of admiration this family has towards the parade going on, with also their dedication to a new community that they are now a part of.

I was working on photographing motion and had a number of photographs of people jumping, biking and playing sports. However, I wanted to move beyond this direct concept and try to capture light in motion. Simple items, like a flashlight and a dark bedroom, combined with multiple instructions to my younger brother (and patience!) allowed me to get this roller coaster effect.

This art piece is an acrylic painting on canvas. It is actually inspired by a photograph I took while in Ranch 99 during the summer, with my younger sister and cousins. My cousins had finally come back down from their first year of college and after a year of not seeing them, we all, funny enough, went immediately to go buy snacks for all of us. I decided to do a painting of this image due to the nostalgia it gives me. I was always super close with my cousins though we talked less during their time in college and my first year of highschool core memories I always had with them always involved snacks. All four of us could actually finish a whole bag of chips in a 15 minute car ride, which always amazed my mom. One of my cousins was a really big snacker and coincidentally enough one of her favorites were choco pies. My mom was also always buying snacks for us. Food was weirdly enough, kind of our thing. I remember being extremely happy taking this picture, which again was my inspiration to do this painting.

This piece serves as a nod to the various factors that inspired me to draw as a child. I'm lucky to have had an amazing childhood, and I think it shows in my work. Growing up in Tokyo as a kid was the best experience I've had in my life, and a lot of the items and toys I owned were cute, colorful, and fun. I think being surrounded with all this positivity and art as a kid is the reason for my lifelong love of creativity. To show this, I incorporated real toys and drawings from my childhood into this piece, as well as things that I remember seeing trending at the time. (ex: stars/hearts/music notes on clothing, strawberry accessories, charms, cutely decorated donuts)

This art piece represents coming out of an abusive relationship broken and hurt but still trying to view yourself as graceful and beautiful as you can while being visibly and mentally torn down, having the person push you into positions that you didn’t want to be in figuratively and literally. I purposely chose not to color the artwork for the sole purpose of letting those of all kinds of abusive relationships be able to fill in those blanks of “color” and for them to be able to look at the artwork and see themselves and imagine themselves finally prevailing over and breaking free from the “puppeteer” the most important thing to me, when I make art, is to allow for everyone of all paths of life to be seen and heard.