This artwork I made with the intention of displaying my full and true emotions regarding art. The piece was made with my best attempt at not focusing on the end result and committing to the process of the art. The artwork was made as a sort of ode to my best friend, who I derive a lot of inspiration from, and myself. The piece is titled optical regurgitation as it feels like a sort of visual representation, or regurgitation, of all the things I love most about art and all that inspires me within art. This piece helped me explore my freedom as an artist and to do this within it many different mediums were used such as acrylic paint, collage, colored pencil, ink, graphite, alcohol markers, and more.

This piece is dear to my heart because of what it represents. My father was quite the story teller as a child, telling all about Hindu Mythology. I steadily became really invested in the Indian Epic, the Mahabharat. It is a hero's journey style story about 5 brothers going to war with their 100 cousins over the throne of Hustinapur. In the story, the middle brother, Arjun, is particularly strong, the strongest warrior of the Kuru Princes. He later marries a half snake, half human, Naga, or for women, Nagini, named Uloopi. She eventually gives her life up for Arjun, by taking her Nagamani, a jewel from the middle of her forehead made to keep her forever young, to sacrifice her life for her husband’s. Her story has always stuck out to me, even though it is a simple part of the epic. So when I was given the opportunity for my first sculpture, I chose to make a nagini. I was given two weeks to sculpt her, and I started with the marbling of the clay. I simply took different colors of clay and smashed them together by throwing them at the ground. I then sculpted her tail, and then her torso, and finally, her head and hair with the combined clay. The outer layer formed one color, meaning that once sculpted, I had to slowly scrape away the outer color of the tail in order to get the marbled effect on the tail that makes the snake pattern.

Moonface is a reclamation of my Asian heritage, and a practice in self love. The term “moon face” can mean many things. It’s a medical condition. In some places, it’s used as a derogatory term against Asians. In other places, it refers to natural, ethereal beauty. To me, it has always been a term of endearment, used by my family to celebrate and admire the features inherited from our Japanese ancestors– a round face, glowing skin, a soft nose. As a mixed race kid, it’s hard to feel love for every part of yourself, especially when it feels like everyone wants to tell you what you can and can’t be. Moonface takes my identity from the hands of others and returns it solely to me. By painting the moon over my face, I choose to love and accept my features, the European ones and the Asian ones. I choose to take the beauty of the moon, revered in many cultures, and use it to embrace one of my insecurities, my face shape, turning it into a celebration of my past and future. I choose to reclaim the term “Moonface,” and all the good and bad that comes with it. I choose to turn a narrative of othering and restrictive beauty standards into a story of acceptance, positivity, and confidence. Moonface is a painting of me, made for me, by me, celebrating me, and all who came before.

I created a large scale flower made out of mirror adhesive and mirror tiles that create multiple levels of fragmentation and clarity of the viewer’s reflection. The flower and mirror are symbols of vanity and the transience of beauty, and were common motifs in Vanitas and Still Life paintings. My work creates a tension between the flower and the mirror, the organic and the inorganic, the viewer has a direct relationship with these tensions through their involvement in the piece.

My art, at a glance, is a simple collection of adorable photos--a lovely cat playing with a shoelace, hissing at its own reflection in the mirror, and watching its owner as they complete their homework. Animals are often adopted simply because they are cute. Then, when people no longer want to be responsible, they are thrown away. As if animals are objects that can be sold and returned. As if they aren't living beings. My art may look just "cute," similar to a cat being given up for adoption. But if one looks at what's going on at the surface, they'll never understand how deep it is. My art depicts the transition from being excited to have a pet to rejecting and abandoning it. Excitement, followed by annoyance and rejection, and ultimately, abandonment. Playing with the cat, laughing as it gets scared by its own reflection, trying to ignore it as it sticks its paw out on to the paper, and in the end it's all alone, staring at flowers that have been drained of color. I hope my "simple" art stirs complicated and perhaps even uncomfortable emotions within the viewer, giving life and depth to a "simple" creature that people choose to treat carelessly.

Evanescence. Definition: soon passing out of sight, memory, or existence. A flower plucked from its life source is the epitome of impermanence. Its ephemeral dance of colors and fragrances can only last so long before it succumbs to the animosity of time. The transient nature of the flower’s life mirrors the constant change of the world around it, as its youth fades and its petals scatter, gently settling on the wooden table. It serves as a delicate reminder of the emptiness of chasing an everlasting feeling of joy, forgetting that fleeting moments are what actually gives importance to those feelings. Scratchboard art is the perfect medium for attempting to capture these fleeting moments. Its unforgiving nature of scratch art requires the artist to embrace changes, whether negative or positive, and to continue moving. The act of scratching away the dark surface to reveal the bright layers underneath serves as a visual narrative for the perpetuating cycle of creation and decay, contrasting light and dark to exemplify this notion.

I created this piece to participate in the discussion on the whitewashing of Greek statues and their history. For centuries, archeologists have concluded that the white and marbled remains of ancient Greece symbolized sophistication and elegance. Essentially, it paints a false narrative about how ivory sculptures and architecture are the pinnacle of high class. However, this idea is being contested, as recently, preserved remains of ancient Greece were found with bright colored paint. The Greek statues were actually colorful, as were the ancient Greek monuments. I wanted to draw a comparison between the real ancient Greece and how it is currently being portrayed in museums. On one side, the piece depicts ancient Greece with vibrant buildings and a painted statue. I tried to depict a lively society with busy streets full of people enjoying their lives. On the other side, I wanted to portray what the statue has become after centuries of erosion. The statue is perched on a stand like other damaged statues, showing the state of the remains of a once-great empire. The museum's color scheme is much colder and desaturated to create a contrast against the other side. My goal is to showcase my view on this issue but also open a discussion with other artists to understand their opinions on this subject as well.

I painted this painting with the intentions of it just being a charcoal study but i came back to it a few days later and realized it strayed too far from my original style so I decided to add more movement and color.

This artwork took lots of inspiration from Kanye West’s Graduation Bear.

When loneliness hits, it makes you feel really small. As if no one is out there to help you. You feel like you have no support, guidance, or emotions. You feel... erased. As if everyone wants to ignore you on purpose, with no particular reason why. This was my inspiration for this piece. We have all been in this situation, in which we feel like we have to erase ourselves from society. Feeling like the only thing we can do is crawl up into a ball, hoping that this endless nightmare is over. We feel escaping to the white void of nothingness will finally set us free, but it only happens in our head. What does it take to finally break free? I have no clue. However, I believe bringing awareness to the clause will someday bring me to a solution. One day, I feel loneliness will one day be gone forever, and it will only be a distant memory.

There is no real reason behind my art.

The only thing I absolutley remember about this piece is that I wanted it to be bathed in light.

This is a cultural exploration of my heritage.

A Gamja Hotdog is a korean hotdog that is known for the chunks of potatoes on its outer layer.

Colored pencil on black paper

Echoes of the Heart represents the connection between time, the heart, and memories. Looking through old family photographs, I was inspired to create this piece. The connection of the heart to the distorted clock shows how the heart changes over time. The heart becomes the keeper of our memories as time passes, connecting it to the memories that are illustrated. The mountain range represents the echo of the heart. Our memories echo as the journey of life goes on. The foil bits attached to the heart and in the space between the clockwork represent the journey of self-reflection as a monumental passage in this surreal experience we call life. The clock gears embedded within the heart and in the background of the mountain represent just how intertwined time and the heart are. One thing that resonated with me was the fact that our memories echo. Memories are fragments of our hearts that we never let go of and will stick with us throughout life’s journey. They shape who we are as individuals, which is why I wrote the phrase “Memories Echo” in the space between the clock distortions. I ran into numerous artistic blocks where I would simply stare at my artwork and wonder what message I was trying to convey. Eventually, I curated a connection between the elements of my work. I thoroughly enjoyed the artistic process of creating this work. I hope you enjoy looking at this art as much as I enjoyed making it.

I want to showcase my love of colors and nature.

I painted two young boys playing around near the shore.

To me this mean that people are in your way and you may get hurt.

I drew my new shoe and decided I wanted to do a sky in the background.