Artist Statement

We all know that the food we eat affects us, but what about thoughts we think and hear? Do the things we hear everyday also affect us? I think that many times the power of thought is underestimated, and that the hardest person on ourselves is ourselves. We often forget to appreciate the little things that make us smile and all that we have. For my project, I am combining food with thought. I am baking cooking and writing the text listed below. Baking and sharing cookies other people is something that I always have loved to do. It brings me great joy to see people smile when they eat a cookie. I hope that my project will make a positive difference in people's day.

Text

"Live each moment to the fullest because once it passes, you will never get it back."



"Be happy!"



"Remember and embrace love, happiness, and peace."



"Live the day before tomorrow, today."



"Just your presence makes a difference in the world."

Henna

When I came to class last Wednesday, I planned to follow the blueprint I made which consisted of a single flower (about the size of a quarter) whose petals were made up of words. I wanted something kind of small. However, when saw all of the amazing designs in the books, I changed my mind and decided to do something different. On my left hand, I started to draw a flower, then a stem, then leaves. On my wrist I wrote, "thoughts, sounds, words, voice, change." Pretty soon I found that I couldn't stop and kept adding to the drawing by extending the stems and making more flowers and leaves. After I was satisfied with my left hand, the henna artist drew another flower on the back of my right hand with my pencil piece as the center. I was addicted to henna.

For me, I think the hardest part about the henna was fighting the temptation of pealing away the henna before the four hours were up. When I finally took the henna off, the drawings were orange. As time went on, the henna drawings on the back of my hands turned a brown color and the picture on the palm of my hand stayed orange.

Comments
"That's beautiful. Did you do that yourself?"
"Henna..."
"What's that?"
"You got henna! That's awesome. I want to do henna now."

Body Maps - Everyone Has A Different Story

In many ways, we are all very similar. We are all humans with feelings and obstacles that we have to confront. However, each one of us is an individual and has had our own unique experiences and memories. Maybe this is part of the reason why each person has a different story for the same body part when making a body map. Since every individual has gone through a different series of life events, each person associates a different story and meaning to a certain body part. When I think of my hair, for example, I think of my birthday. I remember I was leaning over my ice cream birthday cake, getting ready to blow out the candles, when my hair almost catches on fire. However, when another person thinks of their hair, they might think of their mother braiding their hair tenderly. We are thinking of the same body part, hair, but the two memories are contrasting and have distinctive feelings and emotions. Each person has had and will have their own challenges and hardships to face as well as their own precious moments that are kept close to them. Both the good and the bad memories impact what we remember or think of when we map the body. We are all people with different stories to share. No two stories are ever exactly the same.

List

• Humanity--everyone is the same to a degree
• Double standard--expectations of boys
• Body map--everyone has a different story
• Celebrate