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EXHIBITION OF WORKS
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Exhibition of Works: Welcome
NANA AMA AMPOFO
Visual Arts | Los Angeles High School of the Arts, Los Angeles, CA
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My point of view as an artist is showing people that it is okay to be vulnerable. I have experienced a lot of pain, suffering, physical abuse and emotional problems. Instead of being nihilistic, I try to turn my problem and suffering into peace, love and compassion. People often run from their past, but, as an artist, I embrace these things by acknowledging their existence through my art. The purpose of life is not to run from our past and fears. I believe we have to tackle it straight on, and that is precisely what art allows me to do. What motivates me to create is knowing that through art, I can discuss complicated subject matters. Through art, I can inspire and give peace, love and compassion to others.
Exhibition of Works: Text
JASON BABAYEV
Photography | Pine Crest School, Fort Lauderdale, FL
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For the past half year, I have been photographing a beach town neighborhood in South Florida. The images I make there are largely banal, focusing on material culture representative of people who live there. At the same time, they reflect a greater humanity: How the things people make are emblematic of themselves and their spirit in a manner that diverges from physicality. If I were to tell a viewer what to feel when looking at my work, it would likely get lost in translation. My photographic intention is that the viewer is the subject. And what is depicted pertains to how we all find our place within the world we know.
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JEBREEL BESSISO
Visual Arts | Design and Architecture Senior High School, Miami, FL
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My body of artwork, rather than a statement, is a question. It is a reflection of my estrangement from my identity as a Palestinian and a Honduran, and an attempt to understand who I am in relation to the two countries my lineage stems from. In my work I strive to come to terms with the fact that I have seldom visited my motherlands, know few people from there, know little about their culture, know little about the essential meaning of what it is to be ‘Palestinian’ or ‘Honduran.’ By inserting photo transfers of children, men, women, and places in Palestine and Honduras in my work, I am forced to ‘visit’ the land, learn about the culture. I learn the meaning of being Palestinian and Honduran through my artistic process. By applying paint and marks upon the transferred images I further illustrate my reaction to what I see, whether it is oppression against Palestinians, corruption in Honduras, or the natural beauty of my mother countries.
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ALICE BIAN
Visual Arts | Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, MI
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My work revolves around the idea of home and family relationships. I have made work about my mother’s overprotection, restrictions, breast cancer journey, and lack of meals together in the family. Over quarantine, my experience with depression has guided my work to emphasize more on my side of the mother daughter relationship. Reconstruction and deconstruction of porcelain, animation and video are symbols for that relationship, and common threads that connect my pieces. Through my practice, I aim to let the audience empathize and experience my feelings. I hope they acknowledge the importance of family and emotions that build one’s identity. I also advocate that beauty is based on experience rather than appearance through the breast cancer series. In the future, I will combine the idea of a healing and home conceptually and architecturally.
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RABECCA BOHANAN
Visual Arts | Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, MI
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Confronting cycles of neglect has become a central theme in my artwork. I am witness to the forms of neglect within my household and Native Nation that stems from the continued genocide of Indigenous peoples. The driving aspects of my work are advocating for compassion; spreading awareness of mental health that highlights Native American identity, and factors in society that neglect Indigenous voices.
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QUOC BUI
Visual Arts | Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, MI
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As an artist, I see myself as a space entertainer. Creating narratives, infusing excitement around spaces is what space entertainers do. I view the task of being a space entertainer similar to being a doctor. While a doctor is there to help people, to relieve one's pain, a space entertainer’s job is to brighten up someone’s day, for the viewers to appreciate the object in front of them. Working for the audiences is the primary goal, and the act of highlighting one’s day is my motivation to create artworks.
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EVA SORYN CALL
Design Arts | McIntosh High School, Peachtree City, GA
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A salient concern of mine is how present-day humanity has evolved away from the beautiful parts of life such as romanticism, drama, and decorum, and has instead grown to be indolent, wasteful, and dispassionate. My work is centered around the disappointing habits and social structures I see in the world around me. Design uses romanticism, drama, and decorum to draw an audience to the indolence and insouciance of modern humanity. The sheer ferocity with which people consume plastic, money, media, space, energy, and everything in between is a part of modern planet Earth that can be helped. My designs are a call to action.
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BAXTER CHELSOM
Photography | Harvard-Westlake School, Studio City, CA
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In my photography, I like to make the audience look deep into my work, which leads to a sense of intimacy. I express myself through others’ stories. The work I applied to YoungArts with was titled "Father & Family" in which I was telling the most unknown story to me: My father. The pictures I captured did not just provide an explanation for him and his character but also for me and why I am the way I am. My father unintentionally inspired me from a very young age to become obsessed with photography. I am still very early in my career in photography but I have developed a need for it. It provides me with the answers I need, but also with even more questions, and that is exactly what is so captivating.
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SABINE CROY
Photography | Carroll High School, Fort Wayne, IN
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As a photographer, I find great satisfaction in creating artwork that emulates my personal viewpoint. I am most inspired by the idea of how I interact with nature, and my interaction with the spaces that I inhabit. I value the simplistic details, intentionally planning everything. From the patterns in my clothing, to the posing of my face and body, to sincerely placing each and every object meaningfully in the compositions to make the audience feel embedded in each and every image with me. I hope to convey not only moody and eerie compositions, but also compositions that are evocative and beg the audience to look deeper.
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JOSHUA FLOWERS
Photography | Greenhill School, Addison, TX
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Photography has always served as a form of expression and activism in my life. Through creating imagery, I have gotten to learn so much about myself and my place in this world. My work is concentrated on ideas of introspection and social justice as well as the relationship between the two. In every photo I make, I try to convey a sincere level of authenticity and raw emotion. It is my hope that these images can be used to identify the commonalities we possess as humans in a world that is becoming increasingly divided.
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ANDREW HARRIS
Photography | Middlesex School, Concord, MA
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For me, photography is a tool of expression and protest. I aim to uplift and understand the Black voices around me, while also expressing my own. Representation matters, especially in our current moment in time. The media constantly fails to tell Black stories correctly, saturating our screens with stereotypes and misinformation. The photographs of Gordon Parks and the films of Spike Lee inspire me. Along with that, my other biggest inspiration is my family.
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JOYCE HE
Design Arts | Livingston High School, Livingston, NJ
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The projects presented range from branding to packaging design and are characterized by an affinity for bold colors and geometric shapes. Throughout the process of creating my work, I challenged myself to explore a variety of graphic design perspectives as well as better understand how design could be used to shed a light on pressing, relevant and important issues.
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MABEL JOHNSON
Design Arts | Parkview High School, Springfield, MO
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I learned to sew when I was little. I cut patches from clothes my siblings and I had outgrown, and made them into something entirely different. Making something out of nothing, has always drawn me to design. Pieces of the past reworked into something completely new and meaningful. Whether it’s a simple design or an intricate patchwork with bold colors, I love expressing myself through different fabrics and shapes. Fashion is my way of putting it all in one.
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KACEY KIM
Visual Arts | Harvard-Westlake School, Studio City, CA
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As an Asian American woman, I felt like my oversimplified box was grotesque in assumptions of an obedient, child-like yet fetishized nature. Although my works are derived from my perspective and portray racism from an Asian point-of-view, the elemental point is that America must recognize the cultures behind the diversity instead of calling it a “melting pot.”
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RACHEL JOOHYUN LEE
Design Arts | Seoul International School, Seoul, South Korea
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Mien is a manual that leads people to learn and express a variety of facial expressions and capture their emotions every day. The design is called Mien because it is defined as a person’s look or manner that creates the individual’s characteristic, which is my purpose for the design. Mien is composed of several products: daily manual, application, an eco-bag with a badge, and calendar. The main product, which is the daily manual, is to be located in the bathroom because the bathroom is the only location all people visit in the morning and the only location everyone can practice new expressions looking in the mirror as they spend their time to prepare for their day. Depending on how one practices a certain facial expression, one's impression can alter and create one's own characteristic and personality. Along with the daily manual, the application has the same function but also can capture the actual facial expression with the camera function.
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ADDISON LINCK
Photography | Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts, West Palm Beach, FL
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I have focused my photography on history. I have strived to utilize many of the same cameras and techniques that were introduced in the 20th and 21st centuries, putting myself in the shoes of those who came before me, which has made me look at the world in a whole new light. Each of my photographs is a glimpse into the past, that the viewer must decipher for themselves, as each and every person has their own interpretation of the scene. The photographs are intended to raise questions such as “in what year was this image taken?”, “who is the figure seen in some of the images?”, “what are their intentions?”. The images are simply a collaboration between artist and viewer to tell the story of each scene.
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DANIELA LOPEZ
Visual Arts | New World School of the Arts, Miami, FL
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Over time, I have grown to become more self-aware; the current conditions of the world fueled my already enkindled process of self-inquiry. Recognizing my inherited Colombian roots from my immigrant parents, accepting the lessons learned/lessons to be unlearned, and how I was raised alongside both my siblings has dramatically played a role in sculpting my way of thinking. My works have allowed time for internalized healing, allowed hard conversations with members of my family, allowed intense realizations in many including myself. The collective healing that needs to occur within my family and myself drives my practice.
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KELLY LU
Design Arts | Saint Francis High School, Mountain View, CA
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As a designer, I am intrigued by the possibility of harnessing diverse typographic elements and modern visual concepts to respond to real world scenarios. I am captivated by design as a method of problem solving and as a multidisciplinary faucet of exploration, as it is a medium inherently integrated within a diverse array of fields from computer science to business, from education to psychology. My graphic design work in this exhibition features my independent forays into UIUX design, children’s book design and poster design.
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ALYVIA LUONG
Photography | Carroll High School, Fort Wayne, IN
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When it comes to photography, I mainly focus on incorporating symbolism and personal voice into my work. I create art with the intention of expressing myself while provoking raw emotion in whomever my spectator may be. From my vantage point, art is a vessel for storytelling and introducing new perspectives. I want to artistically embody the inner thoughts of others and create a deep connection between the viewer and my work. Moreover, I yearn to inspire and motivate others in all aspects of their lives - regardless of whether or not art is involved.
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JESSICA JING MCCANN
Design Arts | Fox Chapel Area High School, Pittsburgh, PA
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My body of work is designed to communicate how stress and anxiety impacts me, and takes a toll on my mental and physical health. Each piece of jewelry is physically and conceptually restrictive; communicating the feeling of being trapped or caged while at the same time incorporating the beauty of nature found in butterflies. The symbol of the butterfly represents how I feel in specific situations; they are my attempt to obtain relief from stress, and the desire for freedom from it. The sense of movement created from the butterflies mimics the flight I want to take from my stress. The restrictive, constraining and sometimes smothering aspects of my work represents the contrast between the constraints of insecurity, restriction, anxiety and fear from a deep desire for freedom, beauty, effortlessness and joy.
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JALYNN MCDUFFEY
Visual Arts | Coral Reef Senior High School, Miami, FL
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Jalynn McDuffey is a South Miami artist who focuses on the stories of those around her and the parts of Black existence that make up identity. She uses traditional style portraiture to highlight representation of individuals. Her practice is dedicated to creating proportionate and realistic portrayals of the face and features of Black people in South Miami, to draw attention to the lumping together of Black peoples which removes individuality along with humanity. This is contrasted by her use of mixed media and collage tactics, which seamlessly and un-seamlessly blend outside and inside opinions on Black people in American society. This artistic style is used to portray the everyday struggles of Black Americans and how the negative and positive that comes with Blackness creates their individuality. Her pieces “My Brother’s Keeper”, “Look Alike” and “White Muzzle”, all reflect on the makeup of Black men in American society and how the struggles that come with manhood and Blackness make their stories worthy of sharing. Jalynn McDuffey hopes her work will one day help the world see that discrimination and racism desensitizes and denies humanity to those who need it most, and help Black people to see how complex their humanity can be.
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GRETSY MORENO
Visual Arts | Design and Architecture Senior High School, Miami, FL
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This current work is an exploration of our ephemerality reshaping and reforming the mundane into experiences frozen in time, entrapped by their means. I believe everything that surrounds us is suppressed one within the other in different levels of complexities and superficialities. There are infinite layers of things to uncover about our past, our present, and within ourselves. Paintings can take on their narrative when the milieu and atmosphere in which a subject develops is synthesized with a personal experience. Personal experiences can translate differently to another person the moment it is expressed by any means and that is exactly my point; paintings can transcend. Paintings, art in all its forms can always serve as a reminder of the things that matter when we are always too consumed by distraction to remember.
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GONZALO PENA
Design Arts | Design and Architecture Senior High School, Miami, FL
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I started architectural design three years ago. At first my design work was more oriented toward aesthetics and process. Recently, I started exploring architecture as well as product design. My design and artwork is now mainly driven by sustainability, modularity and our subconscious connections to culture. A good representation of my current creative process is Necto, a Peruvian restaurant made of shipping containers whose structure is mapped out based on Peru’s geography and altitude. My goal is to innovate while preserving the history and culture of the product/building context.
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IS PERLMAN
Design Arts | Design and Architecture Senior High School, Miami, FL
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My work explores the social and cultural understandings of gender identity, with a particular focus on the intrinsic sanctity of a body in transition. I explore the idea that transgender existence is innately subversive in a world dominated by cisgender and hetero sexual representation. I am also interested in challenging the dominance of suffering in stories about trans experiences. Although struggle is often inevitable, so much of trans experience has been reduced to self-hatred because of the prevalence of transphobia, and I am hungry for imagery that depicts joy and liberation. Therefore, my work is created with an emphasis on power rather than weakness, an act of reclamation rather than submission. I want my work to exist as an act of transcendence, reminiscent of the ways I have existed beyond the gender assigned to my body at birth. Through a combination of performance, installation, and painted work, I seek to represent what it means to transcend, both physically and emotionally.
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CHERLINE PHILOGENE
Visual Arts | New World School of the Arts, Miami, FL
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I am a Haitian immigrant who came to America at a very young age. Pressure of feeling like I had to assimilate, led me to slowly loose bits and pieces of my Haitian culture. Ultimately, I am grateful to have experience in two cultures: a duality. I use my artistic practice to reveal different parts of my identity and hope that others can form a connection with the art work and reflect upon themselves and their own cultures.
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DIANA SINCLAIR
Photography | Homeschool, Clifton, NJ
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In my work, I aim to consciously represent subjects in a way that is not only accurate to the message but accurate to the person represented. As a Black queer woman, in not only America but the world, I understand the necessity for thoughtful portrayal in media. Through photography, I try to build stories and make connections with the subject and the audience. Using lighting, color, and expression, I hope to bring the viewer into the realm of the photograph, so that they too may truthfully experience what has been created. My goal, with all of my art, is to create a safe space for the audience to feel and be heard.
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CLEMENTINE SMITH
Design Arts | Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, Los Angeles, CA
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I believe most forms of art are created from individual experiences and relate to our own lives. I studied theater my whole life and when I performed I would take moments in my past and relate them to the character I was embodying. When I found my passion for design a few years ago, I took everything I knew from studying plays, acting and creating my own character development, and shifted it into my designs. Every piece I have made has a story behind it, and is a memory of growing up and experiences I have learned from. The work also has a part of my individual character and my personal development over time. My work is about knowing someone through the design without ‘knowing’ the person. I portray pieces from my womanhood from childhood to present time. I portray my growth as a woman and hope people across all genders and orientations can find their own experiences within the work, as well as find their own meaning.
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WHITNEY TOUTENHOOFD
Photography | Fairview High School, Boulder, CO
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In these photographs, I use conceptual still life photography to address gun violence in American schools, reconstructing spaces that are suggestive of classroom interiors using familiar objects like stools, desks, and blackboards. Because still life photography is often regarded as innocuous, it may seem to be an unlikely medium for such a violent topic. However, I am interested in the theme of mortality as a fundamental aspect of still life painting historically, and with my work I continue this tradition in a contemporary context. The work derives its “shock factor” from the incongruities it entertains. My compositions are simple, spare, and aesthetically appealing; in such a quiet, visually serene environment, gun casings and other symbols of school shootings create a disturbing dissonance.
Exhibition of Works: Text
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