Aerim Lee
When I opened my eyes, the sky above me turned into the ocean, fell upon me all together, and drowned my soul.
Through my art, I express how growing up changes one’s perception of the world, as they transition from being a child to an adult. My art visualizes the process of this change. The world we lived in as a child was a world full of bliss, where we believed in everything. As we grew up, we were expected to grow up a certain way by society and start doubting the world we once believed in. Fairy tales we read, stars we looked up to, and the sky we dreamed of flying in all turned against us. Blue is used to represent the sky in pieces that expressed the world of childhood, and to represent the ocean in pieces that expressed the process of the change, depicting the feeling of drowning under pressure of societal expectations to grow up. Because red is a powerful color, I used it to represent the strong emotions we feel in the pain and anger when society imposes this change on us.
I’m sinking, but I’m learning to swim to see the sky again.