Plastic Metamorphosis
I was heavily inspired by our school’ s community service trip last year to Hainan. We went to a sea animal rescue and rehabilitation facility, where we saw real turtles who were rescued due to their injuries. After learning about the slim chances of survival these creatures had and the impossible barriers in their lives, I was moved by the persistence of this species. Even under heavy pollution and human interference, they were still surviving. I created this painting to not only bring awareness to the looming problem of sea turtle endangerment, but also to show the distress and the raw emotion behind this. I made the turtle more prominent to almost show its pain and sorrow from being tormented by trash and plastic pollution. Nature is undoubtedly a corner stone of human society. It is the interconnecting piece that holds together the world as we know it, from the smallest sprout to the largest blue whale to the everyday person.
Nature is undoubtedly a corner stone of human society. It is the interconnecting piece that holds together the world as we know it, from the smallest sprout to the largest blue whale to the everyday person. This connection of humanity to nature has existed ever since the dawn of man, and to this day, despite our busy routines in bustling cities, that connection can be rebuilt through a simple interaction. During my school fieldtrip in Hainan earlier this year, we were showed the medical care and rescue centers for endangered sea turtles. It was an eye-opening experience, as not only were we educated about their search and rescue projects, but also their dire situation. It shocked me that only 1 in 1,000 hatchlings make it to adulthood, and even this one-in-a-thousand hatchling might not survive due to increasing human activities. This prompted me to make this piece; it’ s not only a warning message, but a call for help from the sea turtles. Over the years, human carbon emissions have increased Earth’ s heat absorption capabilities. With rising temperature, less male sea turtles are hatching, causing breeding difficulties. Other factors like plastic and waste pollution also threaten developing or adult turtles. As an individual, I know there’ s at least something I coud do- to spread awareness with my art. By educating more people about this alarming crisis, we can ensure that in the future, our descendants will still have an ocean ecosystem to admire, just like the past generations.
A Musician’ s Winter Dream
My inspirations for this painting mainly came from Salvador Dali, a famous surrealist artist. I was captivated by the randomness and nonsense presented by his paintings and the surrealist art genre, which spurred me to create my own surrealist painting. I was mostly inspired by Dali’ s painting“ The Temptation of Saint Anthony” and Kush’ s“ African Sonata.” These works motivated me to paint the animals as a main component in my project. Moreover, I was also inspired by savanna watering holes, where animals gather around a pool of water in savannas. For the
texture of the water in my painting, I took inspiration from Van Gogh’ s“ The Starry Night,” hence the colorful streaks of paint. I replaced parts of the elephants with instruments because I had a random thought that tubas sounded vaguely like the call of an elephant. I mainly used blue, colder colors for the background to push the mountains backwards while highlighting the yellow, brighter savanna in the foreground. This way, you can still see the snowy mountains clearly, yet they do not become too prominent to clash with the animals and savanna
Afterthoughts
“ I believe art is an indefinite, formless entity that is brought into shape by the randomness and miscellaneous experiences pieced together within the mind of the artist. There has never been a necessity for a specific purpose to make art, for art at it’ s purest form is an expression of the state of mind.”
- Annyka Ma