Reflection

Reflection

Being someone who’s been swimming for as long as I can remember, I’ve never been afraid of water. However, I strongly remembered the one occasion where this strength of mine was challenged. It was in Cape Cod, while walking in a state park with my mother and sister, I spotted rows of signs along the dirt path that we were walking on— a dirt path that led straight into the churning water. Several of the markers were already partially submerged. I recall getting closer and, with a numbing feeling of shock, realizing that they were marking the estimating water levels jumping from one year to the next. Nightmarish imagery of drowning, the water overtaking ecosystems, houses, and everything I held close crowded my mind. In my artwork, I wanted to express the feeling of the water encroaching human civilization. Inspired by the sculpture of giant hands grasping at a building in Venice, I decided to include hands made of water reaching up. They would be breaking through ice, just like how the ancient glaciers have been crashing down, melting and making the water level rise. As for what the hands would be reaching up towards, I drew the Statue of Liberty and the city of New York behind it. New York City represents civilization and the world that has been slowly developing for millennia. I decided to depict the Statue of Liberty protecting New York City proudly, casting brilliant rays of color containing guiding ideas for environmental change. I also decided to add my own hand, drowning in the deep water among broken ice and the liquid hands, to represent the fear I had so long ago in Cape Cod about the rising water’s impact. I strongly believe that as a global community, we can be our own “Statue of Liberty.” By saving energy, resources, and making green choices for the environment, we can work together to represent humanity’s hope and the opportunities that lie ahead.