Things I Never Said

The piece above was published as the cover of The Lit, winter 2019.

I made the piece below as sort of a rough draft poetry piece, and then ended up liking the “rushed” feeling it conveyed and chose to leave it as is. Whether one chooses to actually read the words or just skim the work as a whole is up to the viewer. After all, there is no correct way to enjoy art!

I love this form of art because it combines mixed media– photography, digital art, poetry, etc. It is really relaxing to make and super satisfying to finish.

I have not fully finished this series of faces. They are, of sort, a self-portrait– though some of it is a longing of how I wish to be. I decided to overlap this particular face over a photograph I took of the sunset at my school. One may notice I also erased some details to allow the sunset to shine through; I think the blankness of the stare adds a haunting quality to the image.

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The first time I read Allen Ginsberg’s Howl, I was amazed. The raw pain, hope, and trauma is so clearly stated, it almost felt as though a truck ran over me as I read it. I immediately had to let out some of the feelings the poem stirred in me, so I created this piece as a homage.

I really owe Choate’s publication The Lit for inspiring me to create these works of art. The prompt for our spring term was “things you never said” which had me thinking: which of my photos evokes longing? sadness? How can I continue these feelings? Eventually I decided to just write and draw on top of them, leading to these series. The hard work paid off: in the end, three of my pieces were published, with one being the cover of the magazine!