Art was not just a choice, but a transformative force in my journey. It emerged as my voice in childhood, empowering me to navigate my emotions. When I felt overwhelmed, I turned to drawing and writing, using them to process my feelings. Illustration, creative writing, videography, and photography became my artistic therapists, providing a safe space to confide my feelings and share my stories. My goal is to use my art to ensure that people like me are seen and heard and to demonstrate that mental health and our experiences with it, regardless of age, are valid and not a strange, otherworldly concept. Specifically, I aim to create an impact that promotes mental health awareness and encourages creative expression. I want to validate mental health through my art. By sharing my illustrations and photography on social media platforms, I hope to showcase my unique perspective on the world and share my personal stories through art. I want my art to validate people, making them feel understood and accepted. By sharing my art, I can inspire others to share their artwork online, creating a community of support and understanding. This connection with my audience is not just a part but the heart of my artistic journey, and I deeply value everyone who supports me. I aim to eventually write novels about characters I've created, sharing the stories that have brought me joy for years. I also want to delve into children's literature to develop media that normalizes mental health from a young age. By sharing my personal experiences with mental health through my art, I hope to destigmatize these issues and show that creative expression can be a powerful tool for healing. My chosen path is risky and doesn't guarantee financial stability. However, I am determined to pursue my passion and create. It takes immense courage to follow one's dreams, and I want to inspire others to do the same. I want my audience to feel encouraged and determined to follow their dreams, no matter the challenges. After all, trying does not harm; the journey is a source of inspiration and empowerment. My art can catalyze this empowerment, showing my audience they can overcome challenges and follow their passions. I want my art to inspire others to take control of their lives and use their creativity to make a difference.

Freedom of creative expression is important because it helps me express my emotions and tell my stories in art. In my art, I've always prioritized having a facet of myself in my work. As someone who was always left alone as a child, I've found art to be my emotional outlet and source of self-expression. Despite all the mediums I'm passionate about, photography is where I feel most confident. My camera is where I capture and express my identity, emotions, and stories. My DSLR camera has been instrumental in capturing every aspect of my identity. In the photo below, you can see a part of me I cherish the most: my deep emotional attachment to objects. This image is a piece of my soul and a testament to the power of photography in expressing the most intimate parts of myself. The stuffed bunny toy has been a necessity during my most vulnerable moments, including anxiety attacks. The ribbons on the bunny's ears symbolize my enduring childlike attachment to it. The Converse is me, finding the bunny when I felt lost. The lack of colors in the photo represents my anxiety, and the color in the leaves symbolizes my hope after seeing the bunny. This photo is a visual representation of my anxiety and how my attachment to particular objects helps me manage it. This photo also represents my love for photography. I was about to quit, feeling utterly useless. While editing this photo, I realized the power of my creativity. I discovered I could use my camera to channel my imagination and express my emotions and stories in anything I shoot. This photo was a turning point, showing me that photography can be a guiding light even in the darkest creative moments, encouraging me to continue my artistic journey.

Brat by Charli Xcx has not only taken the world by storm but also my headphones. As brat summer remains a dominant force in pop culture, I can't help but feel inferior. My brat summer is not much of me bumping that to club classics or being a 365 party girl. My brat summer is rotting inside my house, or more specifically, decaying in my bed in pure jealousy of everyone who is having a better time than I am, while listening to Sympathy is a knife. I love the song Sympathy is a Knife from Brat because it perfectly describes the feeling of pure inferiority and jealousy compared to people who are so much more successful than you will ever be. I love that Charli Xcx shares her feelings about this other woman because it validates our jealousy. Charlie reminds us that it's valid for us to be jealous of other women and that we don't have to be friends with everyone we encounter. Looking at others jealously and feeling inferior in the distance is normal. Ever since I was a young girl, I have felt pure jealousy for my peers and girls my age. Whenever I would try to do something, it felt like there was always some girl who was prettier and more talented than me. Growing up as a fat girl, it felt like I ever did was less worthy when compared to the conventionally attractive thin girls. So when the lyrics, "I don't wanna share this space. I don't wanna force a smile. This one girl taps my insecurities. Don't know if it's real or if I'm spiraling." I relate so profoundly to what Charli is saying. I don't want to share a space where I feel so insecure for just simply existing, and I feel crazy for even thinking the way I am. "'Cause I couldn't even be her if I tried. I'm opposite, I'm on the other side. I feel all these feelings I can't control." I've never felt so heard when Charli sings these lyrics. My emotional eating would, unfortunately, continue until the second half of my senior year of high school. I was incredibly overweight, and I was frequently reminded of that by other people. I would always think I could never be any of these pretty thin girls; I'm the opposite; I'm the hideous emotional mess. But then, something changed. I turned eighteen and reached a weight I never thought I would. I didn't think I'd ever reach two things; I never thought I would live to eighteen or reach 250 pounds. I knew I had to change. When January 2024 came, I completely changed my way of living. I decided I was worthy of self-care and love no matter how I looked. I decided for the sake of my health. I would change how I ate and not rot my body with junk. I deserve to eat appropriately and live healthier. Now, as of August 2024, I have lost 50 pounds. I'm halfway through my journey, but despite all my work, I still feel envy and jealousy deeply through my bones. So when Charli mentions she feels a "Wild voice tearing me apart. I'm so apprehensive now." I understand these lyrics so well in my current state of life. I hear a voice saying that I could do so much better. I need to do more like the girls I see every day. I'm still not as pretty as I could be, and I am so worried I never will be attractive enough.

Chappell Roan and her music has impacted me in an abundance of ways. As a lesbian, the music made about sapphic women, a term often used to refer to women who are attracted to other women, is usually incredibly depressing. Have you listened to Boygenius' entire discography? It's a fantastic discography but also a very depressing one. And the individual band members' discographies are even more terrific and soul-crushing. As much as I enjoy sad, sapphic woman music, I am a dance-pop girl in my soul. However, most pop-girl music is about a heterosexual experience. I never truly felt at home in the music world. Then I listened to the first track of The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, Femininomenon. It was like finding a kindred spirit in a crowded room. Then I listened to her entire debut album. Best decision I've ever made. Chappell's music is not just a soundtrack to my life; it's a part of my identity and a mirror reflecting my journey of self-acceptance. Discovering Chappell Roan's music just before her meteoric rise into mainstream pop stardom was a moment of profound relief. Witnessing an openly lesbian individual rise to popularity was a beacon of hope, inspiring me to be more open about my own identity. As a young girl, I was always afraid to express myself. My desire to be with girls was something I could only explore in the stories I wrote. My mind felt like a criminal for simply having crushes on other girls my age. I tried to hide myself by forcing myself to like boys, and I would often cry myself to sleep at night, trying to pray the gay away. But nothing worked. It felt like a part of my girlhood was torn away by trying to hide my true self. Chappell's music brought back the pink and sparkles of my girlhood; I am incredibly grateful for that. My love for Chappell Roan's music grew even more when she released her single 'Good Luck Babe. 'This song addresses the issue of compulsory heterosexuality, a phenomenon that makes gay women feel the need to reject their identities and force themselves to be attracted to men. In 'Good Luck Babe,' Chappell wishes her partner luck, who is rejecting their fate. This song resonates deeply with me, as I was once the partner who could not accept who I was. I forced myself to pay attention to random men and try to squeeze some romantic feelings for them out of my system. I am so grateful this song exists and that my experience as a young lesbian in this generation is validated. Chappell's music provides an understanding and acknowledgment that is so important for the LGBTQ+ community. Chappell Roan's career is a cause I wholeheartedly support. She's not just sharing her lesbian experiences in her pop anthems; she's also shattering lesbian stereotypes. Her unique, sparkly, and colorful aesthetic is a powerful tool in this mission. It challenges the stereotype that all lesbians are masculine and cannot be feminine due to their romantic interest in women. Most lesbian portrayals in media are of short-haired, baggy clothes and athletic interests, and they're almost always white. These stereotypes don't leave much room for a majority of the lesbian and the sapphic community overall. Chappell's campy aesthetic breaks these stereotypes right in half. As a femme lesbian, her representation in pop culture makes me feel so much more seen. It's personal, so I'm a big cheerleader for Chappell Roan's music career. Her representation is empowering and makes us feel more represented in the mainstream media.