Latisha Wu

Childhood is a time where life is more vivid, imagination flows freely, and a period where one can enjoy the simplicity of life. In my sustained investigation, I’m exploring how children see and perceive the world through the merging of reality and fiction. I wanted to capture how children can use their imagination to find beauty in things that seem mundane to an older person. I wanted my series to have a hint of fantasy in it, incorporating make-believe animals into an otherwise realistic scene.

Some of my works drew inspiration from my own old childhood photos and experiences, as well as children’s media (picture books and Studio Ghibli movies). I used a digital program to plan out colors and used acrylic paint to layer bright and saturated colors to capture a cheerful, fantastical atmosphere. During the progression of my series, I experimented with scale, making the subjects larger or smaller to add a sense of child-like wonder and spontaneous creativity. In some of my later works, I was influenced by the Romanticism movement, which put an emphasis on the beauty of nature and a sentimentality for the past. Similarly, in my series, I wanted to demonstrate the idealization of childhood experiences, conveying the charming yet simple aspects of youth.