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Drowned Words

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“The word I chose to convey was ‘communication.’ Mental struggles can be alleviated through other people’s help, but in order for an individual to receive the help they need, their thoughts and feelings must first be declared. Adolescents are often told to reach out for help, but in reality, asking for help can be a very difficult and muddled process. In my painting, a girl is being dragged down by a tangible manifestation of those restricting factors in the form of blank, white masses. To better help the youth of today, I would like to see more receptive and accepting adults that can offer genuine aid to those inflicted with mental illnesses. Adolescents should not have their words drowned out; they must be heard in order to be helped.”

Friends

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My entry is about my friends and how I enjoy hanging out with them. My submission relates back to the required content because my video shows my anchor.

Why We Fight

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My entry is about the recent overturning of Roe V. Wade. On the canvas, there is a television playing a news coverage of a protest fighting against the overturning. The people protesting look upset and are all holding signs with pro-choice designs. There is a woman intently watching the screen looking slightly unkempt with bandages. This ties into the theme of justice I was going for, where even if you are not able to personally be there, you can still watch others fight for the same cause. With a constant barrage of bad news in today’s media, it’s easier to feel desensitized and pretend like it doesn’t affect you. A lot of people don’t understand the repercussions of such a case being overturned or who it affects. Even if Roe V. Wade being reversed doesn’t affect you, it can harm the people around you and takes away women’s rights to make healthcare decisions for themselves. You never know when something like this could affect family or friends—it hurts everybody. Understandably, there are a lot of circumstances that would prevent someone from being able to fight for themself. The good thing about this world is that there are still people willingly putting themselves out there despite all odds to fight for everybody, both for you and me. I felt like a protest was a great example of this message.

“She”

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My piece is a reflection, a part of myself. It’s a memoir told in third person, about how I overcame my trauma and found the beauty in life.

Feeling my Happiest

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My entry/drawing shows me hanging out with my friends. When I hang out with my friends I truly do feel my happiest. I feel that this relates back to the required content submission criteria, also known as the what anchors you prompt because the photo represents me leaving all my troubles behind and focusing on the now with my friends having no care in the world.

Runner

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With this piece, my goal was to show a runner escaping a cluster of chaotic things. Running has been my “anchor” over the past few months, so I decided to have the person running away from the sort of nonsensical, disorganized madness that, without an anchor, can really leave people detached from what matters. I painted the runner fairly small because it allowed the overwhelmingness of all of the stuff behind it to show through, while also setting them in front of the objects to give the idea of an escape. I also used night and day to represent the more chaotic aspects of the right side of the painting and the calm of the left.

Broken Seashells

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My poem is an example of how many of us go through extremely difficult times and continue to have the question, “Why should we go on? What is holding me here?” And I wanted to show through my poem that we are our own anchor even if we do not feel like we are.

Dear Me, What If?

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“Dear Me, What If” is about the power of having dreams, and making them come true. Right now we are young, but all of us can accomplish great things if we take care of our mental health now. There are no limits on dreams, and each one of us can do anything we set our minds to. No matter what we become, we have the ability to change the world – one “if” at a time.

What is Hope?

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Our video is meant to show what others think hope is or what they are hoping for. We hope that people will feel encouraged by this to share their hope with the world and not be scared to show their hopes and dreams.

I know

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“‘I Know’ is a personal poem about what I know my future self will do eventually, because my present and future self are both trying to be the best version of ourselves. I want my future self to have hope in themselves, to have goals, ambitions, to continue doing or strive for the things I enjoy or make me happy. As a result of writing this poem, I’m again reminded of who I want to become, and I feel more at peace with self-reassurance.”