Aisha Gilbert

This series of artwork depicts those few, blaring memories that stick out to me when I recap the events that have occured in my life up until now. The feeling of loss and anxiety, quietness and peace, all weave their way throughout my works. I represent myself using a small, red character to tell these stories from a third person point of view. The series begins with my transfer of schools during my fifth grade year, where I felt small and isolated. It then progresses to the moment during which my mom was diagnosed with cancer and the feelings associated with that time. It ends with a few pieces describing the people around me that helped me through this and how I began to open up more to others as a result.

My use of gouache and ink for many of these pieces creates an expansive color palette that fits perfectly with the feel of each work, allowing me to experiment with different chromatic values. Many of the pieces regarding loss or anxiety have a cooler toned palette with darker values to better fit the feel of that individual work. This series allowed me to experiment with a different approach to art and focus more on experimentation with unfamiliar mediums.