Personal Collage: A personal collage I created with images I think best represent myself. Created with Canva. Scroll below to learn more!
"Romeo & Juliet" Poster: A hypothetical "Romeo & Juliet" poster under the reimaged art direction that the play is set in space with Juliet being the sun and Romeo the moon. Created with Canva and Photoshop.
"Rainbow Connection" Playing Card: A collectible card I made of myself with imagery from the song "Rainbow Connection" with an 80s spoof photo of Kermit and me. Created with Photoshop.
"Taylor Swift 1989 (Taylor's Version)" x Target Promotional Graphic: A hypothetical promotional poster for Taylor Swift x Target exclusive merchandise for the re-release of her album, 1989. Created with photoshop.
"Ava Lanche" Yeti: A repainted buffoon mask to mimic a Yeti in Drag makeup. Created using paint, false eyelashes, lash glue, and eye glitter. Scrow below to learn more!
"Keyki the Keyboard KItty and her Mouse": A cat with a computer head with ears attached to it, a pixelated expression, and a mouse-mouse in her lap. Made with Sculpey and paint.
"Melodrama" by Lorde, Album Cover Recreation: A lighting recreation of Lorde's 2016 album, Melodrama. Recreated in a small-scale light lab.
"Black Lives Matter" Cornell Box: A "Black Lives Matter" cornell box created using black foam core, small chicken wire, and print-outs of newspaper, a receding city, and a central silhouette.
"Lana Del Rey at the Waffle House" Poster: Created for a 5-minute exercise of placing a notable figure and blending them into the foreground of an image. Chose to poke fun at the viral trend of Lana Del Rey working at a Waffle House in Alabama. Created with Photoshop.
The Birth of “Ava Lanche”
“Ava Lanche” is a drag-donning Yeti that acts as a personified version of myself. I created this piece for a 3-D design course I was taking, where I was tasked with a project involving wearable art and self-identity. I was intimidated by the idea of creating something new, so I looked for ideas. I’ve always loved the physical imagery of a yeti: Protective, brooding, isolated, and cold. I felt these words have been used to describe my demeanor by people who didn’t really know me, intimidated by me in nature. I didn’t mind these perceptions, and I wanted to capitalize on how such negative descriptors could birth a powerful image of strength and beauty. Often, yetis are not described as beautiful creatures. Monsters never are. Going through a difficult period in myself, I felt like a monster in the way of feeling misunderstood and powerless. That led to combining the intimidating image of a yeti with the gorgeous intricacies of Drag makeup.
I fell in love with drag artistry with my exposure to Rupaul’s Drag Race in my youth, fascinated with the exaggerated embodiment of femininity and the level of performance art it requires. A drag queen’s makeup is a distinct trademark of her style and solidifies her image in the drag scene. I thought this was the perfect way to counteract the typical features of a yeti that are written off as “ugly” because of its uncertainty or fearsomeness. I experimented with drag makeup for the first time (top left) and knew that this was the direction I wanted to go with the project. I repurposed a buffoon mask and started by painting it a light, icy blue. Then, I incorporated an almost exact replication of the original eye look I created but added lashes on the bottom because the cut of the eyeholes inhibited the look of them too much for my liking. I also did a dark purple lip instead of the bright red to keep a cool-toned look to better match the typical environment of a yeti. Lastly, I added makeup glitter over the eyes and I found the snowflake glitter to be the perfect final touch. The mask was still unnamed at this point and I knew I wanted a typical punny drag name that related to the cold. I brilliantly thought to separate the word avalanche - a mass of snow, ice, and rocks falling down a mountainside. Yeti folklore often has them residing in the tops of mountains (such as the Himalayas), and I thought the name was the perfect fit to complete my ideation. The most powerful thing about this piece is how the makeup on the yeti symbolizes finding beauty in the parts we don’t like about ourselves, the flaws that make us feel like “monsters” wherever we go. Can we learn to find beauty in the monster and love her, too?
Personal Collage
I created this personal collage for a class and I was extremely proud of the final product. Each picture represents something important to me, whether it’s a facet of my being or art/artistry I’m inspired by.
Going from left to right, I added a Chesapeake Bay, Maryland poster because I was born in baltimore and lived in Maryland for half of my youth. Despite not living there for years, I will always consider Maryland my hometown and I try to visit annually because most of my distant relatives still reside there.
The top right is a picture from the 2023 Revival of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Stephen Sondheim was an incomparable composer and lyricist and I believed it is one his best musicals (and one of my favorites of all time). Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford provide riveting performances as the leads of the production.
Below is a still from E.T. E.T. is my favorite movie for its timelessness, heartfelt writing, and nostalgia. It never fails to make me emotional (which is hard for someone who likes to act emotionless).
Lady Gaga is reimagined as The Birth of Venus painting, promoting her image during the ARTPOP era. Gaga is one of my favorite artists; I admire her unapologetic nature, philanthropy, and vulnerable songwriting. Her style had a strong influence on my artistry in my youth (and still does).
The middle right is my screensaver, a stretching-room portrait from the haunting Disneyland Paris attraction, Phantom Manor. The ride is my favorite iteration of the 6 ‘Haunted Mansion’ iterations across the world, one reason being the lore foregoing the attraction and the exploration of the characters as part of the story.
The left corner is a still from La La Land, where Mia finishes the end of her one-woman show. The movie is praised for its abstractive lighting choices, and I love the simplicity and groundedness of this image. I also resonate a lot with Mia’s character and her affinity for writing.
The painting next to the film still is All is Vanity by Charles Allen Gilbert. I actually found this because, in the Phantom Manor attraction, there is a show scene of a bride looking in a mirror reflecting a skull back to her. I like the dichotomy of being so self-obsessed that you’re practically killing yourself maintaining the imagery of the present, ever-changing beauty standards. I also think it’s interesting to criticize how women are perceived as vain when men set up a system that objectifies their image.
The last two images are music covers: The controversial single This is America by Childish Gambino (2018) and Paramore’s This is Why album (2023). They are both some of my favorite artists and I love how they aren’t afraid to be politically and socially relevant in their music. In each work, aside from their distinctly polarizing sounds, their lyrics are thought-provoking and fresh, fitting the brutal narrative of some harsh realities that Americans continue to face.