Janet Liu 

My investigation is guided by questions regarding how people’s emotions develop as they mature based on their experiences. Growing up is a massive emotional rollercoaster that not a lot of adults understand, regarding the teenagers’ drastic changes and moodiness. My work conveys the change from childhood to teenage years and all the emotions that follow. Images 1-3 show the happiness of childhood. Images 4-6, I started to explore the challenging and confusing emotions of the teenage years. Most of my work is sombre to dark to communicate the challenging and tumultuous journey endured by teenagers. I applied my own teenage experiences and emotions into my art because I believe that using my own emotions are the most powerful way to stay connected with my art. In Image 4, I drew a girl drowning in the middle of the ocean with stressful things surrounding her to convey the overwhelming and stressful feelings that teenagers face. I also want the materials that I used to have meaning to my pieces, for example In Image 6, I used a newspaper as the background to show how pervasive gossip can be to a teenager. I learn to think deeper and be vulnerable with my art pieces in this investigation.