“Greatness is not determined by what is achieved but rather by what is overcome”.

When I was 24 years old I arrived in the USA from Czech Republic. I fell in love with an American and followed my heart. Life can be ironic, though – I was not

attracted to the American lifestyle, and it was a major sacrifice to leave my life and family behind. Luckily, I was able to communicate in English but had no idea how the school system works, nor did I believe I would be able to study in a foreign language. My goal was to be a productive member of my new community instead but I needed a green card in order to work legally. I had no choice but getting married. Being a free spirited person, I accepted that this was my price to pay for being an immigrant.

Several years later, shortly after returning from my maternity leave to a hotel front desk where I used to work, on Christmas day I was let go for the reason of not being flexible enough to work full time. Fighting my employer in court in order to get my unemployment was particularly a disillusioning experience. Once my son reached preschool age and I wasn’t able to find a P/T job, the other option left was to go back to school. During my 3 years as a stay home mom I started to feel the urge to study and expand my horizons in a school setting, anyway. My path to a higher education has been a winding one, and being an immigrant made my pursuit more challenging. I was not confident in navigating an unfamiliar school system, so initially opted “only” for a Certificate in Global culture studies. When I learned about financial aid opportunities, a world of new possibilities opened up for me. Since I enjoyed my learning experience and had several inspiring teachers, after completing my certificate I embarked on a new mission: to obtain an Associate degree in Visual Art Studies.

Sadly, my marriage started to fall apart. It was my school responsibilities and deadlines that gave these turbulent times some structure: after putting my son Ben to sleep, every night I focused on my homework. It proved more purposeful than just waiting, wondering when my husband will come home, if he will be drunk or verbally abusive. I got separated and graduated with honors dual degree in 2017. During my time at Community college I’ve become more knowledgeable about the academia offerings: to be more competitive on the job market I completed the Museum Studies Program, and for two years I was participating in the Work-study program in City Gallery. Being an honor student along with becoming a US citizen gave me a needed sense of achievement and pride. On the other hand, I had to put my pride aside and apply for welfare assistance. The yearly recertification process with appointments and paperwork has been frustrating, lengthy; an energy and time consuming affair.

Thanks to my CC advisor who saw my potential and urged me to continue studies in the bachelor program, my next mission was to transfer to SD State University because I liked their applied arts program. I was on the waitlist but didn’t get accepted at the end. Now I got determined though- the other local public university option was UCSD (leaving town with a child seemed too much of a daunting task) but I had to take a couple of more courses at City college in order to be able to transfer to the UC system. When applying the following year, along with my GPA I had to include my personal statement which I believe helped me to get admitted (aside from my portfolio). To my great surprise, in addition to joining the prestigious institution I was also awarded CASP Scholarship which helped financially sustain my little family.

Currently, for nearly a year both my son and I have been learning remotely. I need to draw on my resilience on a day to day basis since Ben has been struggling with online distractions, time management and loss of motivation. Producing art at home for my studio classes has been far from ideal, too. But what I have been suffering the most from during the lockdown in our 1 br apartment is loss of privacy. the cabin fever is real - to the point that after 18 years of living in the same apartment to save money I decided to upgrade to a bigger place. Last November we moved to a 2 br house with a yard which has kept me sane. This again confirms that: what you put your mind on, grows.

I believe it’s up to us to view a situation as a challenge or an opportunity. The narrative we give to an event is what matters, and we have the power to change it to a positive one. I’ve been practicing this creative technique to manifest higher education, end of an abusive relationship or financial abundance. All my seemingly negative circumstances proved to contain blessings once seen as a part of the bigger picture.

In my artwork I’m exploring the concept of life/people being multi-faceted. I created a box containing multifaceted shapes which represent what we tend to perceive as negative aspects of our life or personality. They overlap, stack on each other.

But what if we just shift the angle through we have been looking at it all along? Re-interpret it?

A shiny crystal starts emerging from below the dark layers. Order underlines chaos.

I drew a borax crystal to allude to a diamond, which is a form of carbon (alike coal) transformed by millions of years of pressure - a symbol of resilience and triumph.