“My ‘Hope’ entry is meant to represent what I’ve become post-pandemic. It shows how screens, like my cellphone, have affected my life. It feels like I’m being sucked in and losing control; but a special person has been able to help me [keep] from losing all touch with reality. My hope is that I can learn to rely less on my phone and more on the people around me.”
“As a biracial female in a white-male-dominant environment, I find it very important to point out racist and sexist behavior when I see it. I was very excited to make an entry about my personal experience and how I’ve dealt with these unjust problems in the hope that others might be able to take some of the ideas and apply them to their own situations or simply be more understanding.”
“For this contest, I decided to talk about boxing because it’s something thing that helps me with whatever I am going through and hopefully others. I chose to talk about boxing because it’s a great way to deal with stress and anxiety.”
“I wanted to emphasize the importance of the beauty of nature. There’s so much tranquility in our world, and I know that if we took the time to appreciate it, the calamity of our problems would seem like a star in space [by] comparison.”
“My mom has been able to keep me grounded even in the mightiest of storms and gave me strength during an incident I had at my school. Even anchors wear out after carrying all that weight, but my mother still keeps me strong despite the fatigue, because she loves me. […] I wanted to honor my mother, who would go as far as to capture the moon for me if it was my heart’s greatest desire.”
“My submission is a watercolor and colored pencil mixed media painting depicting two friends on a couch with a cat. One friend comforts the other, showing my anchor, which is my friends and loved ones who will always be there to anchor you when the waters get rough. I decided to use a warmer color palette to show the warmth that your friends and loved ones can bring into your life when things seem cold and bleak.”
“My drawing is about how a person’s stress or anxiety can disappear with their anchor – in this case the anchor [of] music. With music, people can go into their own world and forget about their problems and stress. […] Music also helps me get away from the world and motivates me to get through a bad day.”
“An anchor to me is someone that provides stability in the tides of life. I chose my grandmother as my anchor because she motivated me to grow into the person I am today. […] I really want my grandma to be proud of me.”
“My piece is a representation of my anchor in life – my pets. Life can be stressful at times, but the simple presence of an animal is immediately calming; it’s why people have therapy pets and why dogs are brought to hospitals to cheer people up. When life gets hard, sometimes the best thing you can do is look into the eyes of something that’ll always support you [and] always love you, no matter what.”
“My submission shows one of the things that anchors me, which is skincare. Doing skincare is my self-care. I feel refreshed after I do skincare, and my mind is clearer. I tried to translate this feeling into my painting by having the reflection in the painting show my happiness. […] Skincare is a part of my routine, and I always know I’ll be able to do it, so it is the constant in my life that helps me stay hopeful.”