High School Visual Arts

In researching menstrual stigmas worldwide, I became inspired to create this piece. In my household, we have a tradition where girls wear specified red shorts (for comfort and convenience) when they are menstruating. I used this in my piece to show that this female is on her period. She stands in an outdoor public area, her posture is straight, and she has her right hand on her hip (confidence!). Through this piece, I want to tell females that their sexuality should not be a source of shame, but instead be a reason why they matter.

The piece shows inner turmoil between culture and identity, on one side my family is kiowa, a native american tribe. But on the other I am white. this relates to the theme I matter because... because the importance culture has over me as a person. as i have grown i was taught that because im in a new generation it is our duty to learn and to get back what was taken from us those years ago due to colonization. The teachings, the past that's why I matter, to learn to keep culture alive because it was taken from us but we are resilient and refuse to be forgotten or silenced.

The background of the piece is the immigration document for my great-great grandfather who immigrated to and from America during the Chinese Exclusion Act. In the painting, I am holding a red envelope with the character "Chin" on it, because Chin is the family name on my grandmother's side. The envelope is a representation of our family history and culture, and I wanted the piece overall to convey that I matter because my ancestors made great risks and sacrifices to get into the country, so therefore I need to properly live my life to show my respect to them.

I matter because I have aspirations and goals. I aspire to be a member of society with purpose and value. I want to be accepted and recognized for my talents and efforts. I work hard in hopes to reach these goals, achieving accomplishments, and staying motivated by how far I have come. The new domino piece I am setting down represents both progression towards my goals, but also the burden of knowing that a single slip is all it takes to have all my efforts come tumbling down.

I matter because I am my own story. You, I, the people we meet, the people they meet- we aren’t defined by uncontrollable variables society has decided define us- things like our backgrounds and origins. My piece is a drawing of Seattle emerging from my brother’s profile. His face is colored with more saturation than the buildings to draw focus toward him and away from them; where he is from can describe him, but cannot define him. It should only be in the peripheral focus. We are not outlines to fill; we are our own novels to write.