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My artwork is an incorporation of elements in my life that I hold with great importance. The most prominent aspect in my artwork is the sheet music throughout the piece. Music is a big part of my life as well as my family’s life since it is one of my biggest passions and something that brings me a lot of joy. The colours surrounding the music are colours that represent parts of my life. The red represents my mother’s side of the family coming from Vietnam and the blue represents the water/ the journey that both sides of my family went through in order to provide a good life in Australia. Additionally, the branch also represents family as it is something that helps me to grow and learn from my mistakes. There are dog paws drawn throughout the piece to represent my love for animals. I drew my friends since they are a big part of my life and people who I can trust and rely on.

My artwork represents death as a beautiful thing, where we allow souls to perish into god’s hands; which is conveyed through balloons soaring into the blue sky, filled with a bunch of balloons (depicted through a bunch of white dots; all those I've lost). This artwork reflects the way in my culture, where we let go of souls and allow them to rest into gods’ arms, as he is trusted to care and love for them as we mourn for the rest of our lives; both celebrating and at hard times.

I chose to represent memories of the beach from my childhood with as a backdrop to a pigeon, which I have been observing throughout high school. The main focus is this bird because doves are symbolic of faith, which I have experienced a lot of during my time at St Aloysius, and rock doves are known for connection since they have been used a lot for communication throughout history. Since I’ve gotten to connect with people the most this year, I wanted to show that through this pigeon. Pigeons are very ordinary, but if you start looking, you’ll notice they’re all different. Their individuality reminds me of people.
My memories at the beach are very important to me, it’s a place I love and where I’ve gotten to spend a lot of time with my loved ones. Therefore I depicted the pigeon sitting above still water with the shadow of creatures swimming underneath, and the bright green light similar to the one you can see from the water at night down near my grandparent’s house in the background.

The cycle from seed to tree and the falling of a leaf symbolises liberation, life and growth. I have used this symbol to demonstrate my experience with coming of age. For example, my drawing of rain symbolises the hardships I’ve been through and how they have made me who I am today. It also signifies the hardships my mum has been through, such as moving to Australia alone at a young age from a different cultural background, and how that has influenced me in a positive way. Through this cycle, I have demonstrated the independence and mental growth I have experienced, such as finding my own passions, interests and opinions and my mindset for the future.

In the artwork, I describe moments of my life where things, seemingly irrelevant and simple, such as music, cats; small, beautiful things in my own life that have created hope for me and helped me through tough times. I don’t depict a specific moment, but rather, aim to convey how small parts of my life, things that may seem insignificant, have come together to make me, me. Things that have helped with feeling content, with feeling whole.

I used a specific colour palette: pink, purple, blue to express freedom, spirituality and intelligence, and inner peace. The rainbow also symbolises hope and promises of a better future. In addition, the messy lines in contrast to the watercolours represent how fleeting life can be, but if I am always whole and true to myself, it will be okay.

The warm coloured ocean that I have chosen to paint represents warmth, femininity and beauty. The pinks, purples and yellows all portray a sense of warmth and kindness I try to pursue in my life, no matter how things change, as shown in their presence in an ever changing ocean. My own femininity and sense of beauty are things I continue to struggle to celebrate in my life, so I try to portray them here with association to myself, as an illustration of what I aspire to. I also included cats to represent love for my close friend, who will always be there to support me and is always in my mind, as I want the very best for her.