The world inspires me by allowing me an outlet to express myself, I feel there is a healing nature to art. Nature is inspiring because I wonder how and why things work the way they do. People inspire me because uniqueness is common in everyone, but not everyone is the same in their uniqueness.

I consider myself unique because of how I create. How I view the world is a little different than that of the average person. Being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder at a young age established how I perceived the world around me. There were aspects of school that I excelled in such as reading and writing, and others that I struggled a lot with such as math. Art, in particular, is something that has always been of interest to me. The ability to create and express myself is exciting because sometimes it was the best way for me to communicate. Verbal communication is difficult for me because of my autism. I plan to give back to my community with the best possible means for me: art. Art is a powerful tool that can be used to bring awareness of social issues and injustices to the public masses. It can be looked at and interpreted in many different ways and forms, there is no "right" or "wrong" way to interpret art. It is less objective than math, which some people may not like, but it is something that I appreciate about art. It highlights the fact that we are all unique, and how we see the world differs for everyone. My family means a lot to me. They've been there for me thick through thin. They've supported my goals of continuing my education, however, it won't be enough alone to afford the costs. Collage is a tool that can be used to educate and allow people to secure stable high-paying jobs. I never plan on becoming a doctor, a lawyer, a firefighter or a policeman, but society still needs people to create art. Society needs another perspective when things are going wrong. What comes to mind for me is race, but this can apply to many other social issues. Inequality for women, the people in Ukraine fighting Russian tyranny, much like a journalist exposes wrongdoing, so does the artist. Creativity can bring out the best in people, at least I think so. It's hard to think of any downsides to being creative. Releasing pent-up anger, sadness or other strong emotions is helpful. I've struggled with depression since adolescence, and art has helped me understand depression and anger. Since there is no right or wrong way to look at art, there is also no right or wrong way to express it either.