My artwork has always revolved around the developments of technology in our lives today, a profound phenomenon where humans integrate artificial things into their lives. Often this behavior is considered dangerous, that we must control the amount of technology we use. Falling back to the age old statements and arguments, I digest them fully in my artwork. With traditional methods such as pencil and ink, I explore the digital realm, a seemingly contradictory technique that I find helps me think. By having to make those deliberate choices to frame traditional artwork in a digital way, I can create layers of depth within a piece. I find myself using art to explore this question, to what limit is it okay for us to use technology? "Binary Circuitry" is a pencil piece answering this question through the metamorphosis of a human. The subject depicted appears to have undergone a drastic change from their original form, but it seems to bother them very little, thus depicting how our innate instinct to adapt led to a change in our humanity.

My Mother had schizophrenia and it was very dramatic for me; I was always both sacred and afraid to face her. It didn't want to be around her at all even when she finally got on medication. It wasn't until much later when I dealt with some mental health issues of my own did I truly realize how dark and murky your mind can be. There was also something really beautiful about that unique mindset that you enter when you completely swim through it but still come out the other side. My mother was truly beautiful in her perseverance to over come her disease, and in this digital illustration I made of her I tried to capture ever bit of beauty I saw in her as she swam through that murky ocean of mental illness. Like the pink splotch on the picture, mental illness can seem like bothersome mistake, but it is apart of the picture nonetheless.

My piece commemorates the courage and compassion of Irena Sendler, a Polish social worker during World War II. Although she practiced Christianity, her empathy drew her to help others regardless of their religious beliefs. Known to many as the “Angel of the Warsaw,” she smuggled over 2,500 children out of the ghetto and situated them with non-Jewish families to protect them from the Nazis. For each child she saved, she recorded their original Jewish name along with their new name on slips of paper which she protected in buried jars. Using her records, she reunited many children with their families. In this piece I explored using watercolor and gouache on wood. Wood is very absorbent, which made the watercolor unpredictable, but I was able to obtain more vibrancy and control by using gouache. I wanted wood grain texture to show through in specific areas, so much of my process consisted of layering watercolor and watered down gouache. Inspired by the radial symmetry of Art Nouveau pieces, I used rings to depict Sendler in a virtuous light. In flower language, yellow tulips symbolize hope and new beginnings, much like the hope Irena Sendler brought to the families of Warsaw. The red poppies represent remembrance, which Sendler deserves. The budding poppies symbolize Sendler's compassion, which the world can always use.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

Idk I just felt like drawing it.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.