PURPOSE IN ACTION

Wildfires of the West

Currently in my artist journey, I am exploring how to express what is important to me in my art. As a resident of California, and growing up in this state, wildfires have always been a part of my life. It is not uncommon to me. And there is beauty in the flames. Fires are an important part of California' s ecosystem. I see movement in the trunks of the trees. And the smoke and sky blend together into abstractness. I chose colors to draw you in and feel whimsical. Fire is a beautiful thing California forests need. There is a balance. When improperly managed, that is when we have uncontrolled fires. We as people need to manage our forests properly to prevent these wildfires. Control burning and displacing invasive species. To preserve the beauty of this Golden state we need to take care of it.

Critter Friends

This line of consciousness weaves together a complex web of energy and movement displaying the human experience. The countless faces represent the countless thoughts, experiences, and paths that constantly intersect and separate. Everyone is on a journey and our meaning is created through the connections we make and the experiences we choose to embrace.

What the Tiger Left Behind

In What the Tiger Left Behind, I explore the tiger through what it leaves behind rather than the animal. Inspired by minhwa, Irworobongdo, Dancheong, and the Korean flag, the pattern combines pine trees, waves, clouds, lotus flowers, and moon forms. Three hidden tiger tails disappear among the motifs, reflecting strength, courage, and protection in Korean culture. I first became interested in minhwa in fourth grade, drawing its flowers. Its earthy and five traditional colors stayed with me. I wanted to recreate Korean-style art in my own way. The Taegeuk centers a lotus, while the moons symbolize continuity and renewal. The half-drop repeat invites viewers to look twice, revealing the tiger hidden within and leaving its presence behind.

Thru the Looking Glass 

This pattern explores the surreal and disorienting experience of Black childhood within a society where Black children are simultaneously hypervisible and invisible. Using imagery of myself, the repeated figure becomes a way of thinking about how Black children are seen, watched, represented, and overlooked. The pattern reflects the tension between visibility and erasure, and the complicated process of developing a sense of self while navigating how others perceive you.

flowered swell

Creation and connection serve as main pillars in our lives. Creativity allows us to connect through art and so much more. All we have in the end is one another making it so important as we evolve, to whatever future may come, that we lean on each other and strive for deeper connection. It's really easy to feel lonely in this world, but finding spaces through creation, in which we have common ground, is something I know will help shape a better world. My piece features two people surfing separate waves, representing that we may all be on our own independent tracks in life, but we are still doing the same thing and are connected within. We are all on our own independent journeys but in it together, something I really find deep peace in.

Birds of a Feather

In this design, a diverse flock of birds flies as one to represent the strength, common goals, and diversity of the LGBTQ+ community, and to serve as a reminder that queerness is a part of nature. Each featured species of bird was chosen because it has been observed exhibiting same-sex coupling behaviors in the wild, such as mating, pair bonding, or parenting. The following birds are illustrated: Anna’s hummingbird, Black-headed gull, Eastern bluebird, Eurasian jay, Flamingo, Greater bird of paradise, Lovebird, Northern raven, Orange bishop, Scarlet ibis, Toco toucan.

Eyes on me

This piece explores the expectations placed on women to remain humble and quiet within a male-dominated world. Women are often expected to take pride in their work without appearing too confident or outspoken, while confidence and ambition are more readily accepted in men.

Natures Web

This piece represents how humans and animals are interconnected by life and death. I've created this image with the intention of having an understanding of life and death through all creatures. I did this by using ornamental designs combined with illustrations to create a message of interconnectedness between all life. This piece is inspired by kolam floor art of south India which involves geometric patterns and images using rice grain, flour, powder/ chalk and other household materials to create something very ornate and beautiful. I want this piece to be a reminder of all the beautiful things earth has given us and how it can all live on the same plane peacefully. 

All Boro Boro

This textile piece draws inspiration from the Hawai’i culture that raised me and the Japanese culture that is inherently part of me. As a 4th-generation Japanese-American born and raised on the island of O’ahu, this piece incorporates the blend of two practices that begin with mindful creation and share universal language of love.

I wanted to bring the power of lei giving, making, and receiving to New York. Making the leis in Hawai’i, I used the lei kui method and documented them with cyanotype. I transformed the pieces making them, All Boro Boro; a Hawaiian Pidgin phrase derived from the Japanese word Boro (ぼろ). This is an art of mending textiles to extend their use. A work meant to be worn, seen, and experienced in person and up close.

In the Wave

This mixed-media drawing uses layered lines, shifting pressure, and varied marks to explore a figure moving through struggle in close relation to the natural environment. The body and surrounding forms seem to flow into one another, suggesting social action not as a fixed gesture or slogan, but as a continuous process of movement, adaptation, and making change through relation.

Sapphic Sea

I wanted this piece to be a thesis on the transcendence of love: beyond borders, gender, race, and culture. We live in a time where more than ever we are divided by what makes us different; told that people who believe differently, look differently, love differently are our enemy. To love is to be radical. Love in my family has always prevailed despite deep rooted hatred. My grandparents, Korean and Japanese, chose each other despite a war torn past. Me, a sapphic person born of two pastor parents, continues to hope and love despite my upbringing. To me, this piece continues that unwavering belief; that at the end of the day, mermaids and humans share the same world, and aren’t so different from each other. That love prevails if we let it.

Vanishing Reef

This design grew from a personal memory of snorkeling in Hawaii, where vibrant coral reefs and brightly colored fish created a dynamic, interconnected underwater world. That experience inspired a broader reflection on the fragility of these vital ecosystems. Threatened by climate change and human activity, coral reefs are disappearing largely out of sight, with profound consequences for marine biodiversity and ocean health. The banner celebrates their vivid beauty and movement while confronting their disappearance, urging viewers to recognize not only what is being lost, but the urgency of protecting what remains.

Each in their world, Everywhere Together

Each in Their World, Everywhere Together reflects on individuality as a form of connection.  Inspired by the idea that each of us exists as our own small world within a larger shared universe, this piece considers how difference can become a source of connection rather than division. Created through monoprinting with found CDs as printing plates, each print is unique to its process of creation. The differences between each print reflect the uniqueness of our experiences, while their coexistence speaks to the possibility of living alongside one another without losing what makes us distinct. A world where many different identities can exist together in global peace. 

Becoming Together

Two intertwined hands form a butterfly, showing how change can happen when one person is supported by another. This piece explores identity, nature, and transformation, and how we are part of nature’s cycle of change. The repeated dots symbolize caterpillars, representing generations before us and those yet to come, reminding us to adapt for the future. Inspired by Aboriginal visual language through repetition and pattern, they reflect the cycle of life. The Hong Kong orchid flower motif symbolizes unity, resilience, and my heritage. The butterfly connects to my identity through my name, Vanessa, meaning butterfly. Of all the names my parents considered, Vanessa was the one that made me smile. I hope to carry that joy into a changing world.

Synchronicity

This textile piece explores culture, connection, and collective identity through the visual language of the bandana. Inspired by Black Southern aesthetics, hair rituals, botanical forms, and traditional ornamental patterns, the work celebrates care, beauty, resilience, and community. The intertwined hands and combs symbolize the passing of knowledge and cultural traditions across generations. Earth tones and bold graphic elements create a contemporary textile rooted in heritage while reflecting the power of culture to connect people across communities.

Paths & Presence

Paths & Presence was inspired by New York’s crosswalks and the people who pass one another every day. We cross paths with countless people without knowing who they are, where they are going, or the lives they carry. Black organic lines represent these paths. They are imperfect and changing, just like life. Colorful forms represent the different auras and personalities we carry. As paths cross, colors begin to blend, showing how even the smallest interactions can become part of our journey and leave a trace without us realizing it. Every person we pass carries a life just as big and complex as our own, yet we know almost nothing about it. Sometimes our paths cross with these people, and sometimes we just keep walking with the unknown.

No Fixed Shell

No Fixed Shell is a pattern composed of shells from the different regions my family has migrated through. Brought together, they form a landscape shaped by many places. Each shell carries something of where it came from while becoming part of something new. A shell can be a home, but also something carried. Individually fragile, the shells gain strength through repetition and accumulation, creating a sense of wholeness from separate parts. 

Are we all butterflies?

Are we a reality or an illusion? Inspired by Zhuangzi’s classic butterfly dream, this print reveals that the butterflies we perceive are entirely composed of human elements, feet, fingers, noses, and eyes. Without our individual contributions, this shared dream could not exist. Yet, regardless of whether we inhabit a reality or an illusion, it is our collective connection that grounds us. Unity creates the world we see, and the world we wish to build. Any change we bring to the reality we see, can only be brought about if we are in it together.

“Natural Unity”

I created “Natural Unity” in reflection of the beauty and importance of the environment. I often find artistic inspiration through being outdoors, and noticing the hidden intricacies in everything from flying birds to the smallest leaves. It is incredibly important for people to find peace in the natural world as it connects us all: plants, animals, and people. I included a dove with olive branches in the center, so as to emblematize this unity and serenity. Especially with the concert taking place in Central Park, a natural haven in the middle of the big city, it is important to appreciate nature and to care for the planet on which we live. 

Recollections

Recollections is a continuation of my exploration of textiles as a form of human connection and communication, focusing on forms used in African and African diasporic textile traditions, such as Adire and quilting. I am thinking about how the urge to create art and patterns is inherently human. The patterns I use come from the patterns and textures I see in everyday life, and I am largely inspired by indigo fabrics found in West Africa, drawing on their geometric and floral motifs. I think a lot about the use and history of textiles and the ways they have helped foster connections between people, build communities, and create memories. 

Hands Dealt

Hands Dealt is a large-format cyanotype that has been printed on cotton fabric, toned with black tea, and embroidered. The piece explores the relationship between humans and nature and the critical role we play in preserving our planet.The work began as a series of handprints collected from members of my community, which I then cyanotyped onto the fabric and embroidered with symbols of the natural world. In doing so, I seek to convey that, despite the diversity of our identities, we are united by the same elements. From mountain ranges and grasslands to rivers and trees, Hands Dealt raises a fundamental question: What if we held the Earth in all the ways it holds us?

Tin Phulan di Kahani (The Story of Three Flowers)

My work draws from the visual language of South Asian wedding traditions, using a symbol found within the decorative patterns of the wedding tent as a starting point. The surface is informed by chunnari, a tie-dye technique practiced across the subcontinent, particularly in Punjabi and Sindhi traditions. Small objects such as chickpeas are tied into the fabric before dyeing, revealing a distinctive diamond-and-dot pattern when opened. I use this pattern alongside colors associated with chunnari and ceremonial textiles. At the center, a three-tiered plant emerging from a vase represents three generations of women in my family, whose lives and stories inform my practice. 

Around the World in Four Cards

Inspired by tarot and traditional card games, this patterns studies the visual language of cards to highlight cultures and natural scenes from around the world. each cad combines symbols, natural elements, and ornamental details with a tarot-inspired framework. They are then repeated to create a cohesive pattern.