My exhibition speaks the theme of teenager issues. Each artwork resembles issues that I’ve encountered in my teenage years. Through my artwork, I hope teenagers out there who are suffering from the same issues know that they’re not alone. During these few years, I’ve had many breakdowns due to body image and identity issues which affected my mental health. These predicaments inspired me to create this theme which I deeply understand it.

My theme is based on the pressure towards teenagers which leads to identity crisis and body issues resulting in mental exhaustion. My intention is to show common issues in teenagers therefore each artwork displays a different issue. The first artwork, “Wait! I’m NOT perfect YET….” relates to my insecurity with my body, and as a result, I had to edit all my pictures before exposing them. The uneven skin tone shows my dissatisfaction with my own skin color, and the editing application points to the tool used to alter my appearance to achieve self-confidence. The second artwork, “Calories Matter”, shows the diet I had to put myself through in an effort to change my body shape. To achieve that, I only consumed less than 700 calories a day. The pills, skipping rope, weighing scale and papers shows my dedication to lose weight. “Face of the Future” portrays the period when I had an identity crisis – during which I didn’t know myself or whom I wanted to become. The individuals on paper symbolize figures I was trying to become. The crumpled paper represents those who were no longer my options hence eliminated from my wish list. The last artwork, “Reaching for Help”, symbolizes the different mental health issues I suffered up to this day. In creating this piece of artwork, I was inspired by two YouTube artists called Angela Kalokairinou (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvpdqKKvjSw) and Dina (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJE23KH79WM&t=415s). The hand signifies the moment of being stuck and the struggle in reaching out for help. In addition to that, the scribbles and the swirly checkered boxes symbolize confusion and disorientation.

Each artwork has a body part deliberately put to create cohesiveness. The use of each medium has different intentions. The use of digital artwork shows how these issues are all in their head and may be caused by overthinking. 3D is used to show that these issues are happening in real life. Finally, painting is to express its aesthetic qualities and the elements used.