My artwork constructs a glimpse into the influence of the media arts in my life, growing up in California. Surrounded by endless fields that only lead me to finding my heritage, binding it with pride as time went by.  Incorporating my interest in civil rights, human experiences, and daily daydreaming with music, my work is a window to my mind as well as my heart made physical, influenced by my love for symbolism and historical value. My process is messy and unexpected, formulated similarly by the purpose of being seen, whether being in the subject matter or literal as a visual piece. My piece branches off the theme of Becoming, in this case the becoming of who I am as an individual culturally, having to learn to exist with two distinct cultures yet also figuring out how to interweave them as my own. Like all of us do, we share different experiences all interconnected by us being human, an ever-changing, ever-growing, unknowing experience. Through learning to appreciate other people’s experiences I learned to take pride in mine. 

My piece takes a pretty literal approach to the theme “Becoming”. This was on purpose, since I wanted it to be able to be interpreted in different ways: literally or metaphorically. This piece also aims to mimic the way classical paintings portray stories, especially paintings like The Last Supper and The Birth of Venus. I wanted to make a piece like this because I really wanted to push myself and make something I have never really thought of making before. I usually paint things that come to my head out of the blue, but with this I have source material and an entire plotline that I need to learn about so that I can make this piece perfect. Among the other pieces this piece will show the sadness that comes with the concept of “becoming”; all the torture that comes with change. The painting's main subject, Daphne, is fearful of her transformation; she is afraid of the way she is losing herself and becoming one with the forest. Her feelings of fear and loss are meant to symbolize the fear and loss that comes with losing the parts of yourself that make you unique as you grow up. I’m really excited to see how people interpret my work and hear what questions they have for me. 

I started drawing as soon as I could hold a pencil, and art became my first language. Before I had the words to understand the world, I used art to dissect it. This ability to use art as a tool to pick apart and grapple with the bizarre world we occupy continues to shape my practice. My work explores social issues such as struggles with gender, sexuality, culture, and conflict, while also examining these through a personal and emotional lens. Through each work, I try to challenge the viewers to question the norms and expectations they encounter almost every day and have come to accept. I also want the viewers to be emotionally moved, to confront these uncomfortable ideas that society has made them comfortable with, and to feel unsettled or even disgusted. Ultimately, the root of my work is driven by questioning and by deep, unsettling emotions that, once seen, the viewer cannot look away from. In this piece, “One is Not Born, But Rather Becomes,” I attempt to confront the expectations and boxes one must check when becoming a “woman” and entering adulthood. I question how much of gender is performance, especially for women. Women are often expected to wear makeup, shave, and do much more to physically mold themselves into what society deems acceptable for a woman to look and act like. This piece tries to reflect the psychological effects of that, taking a human breaking and molding them into a category by placing a woman in a tight, suffocating box.

In my art, I hope to capture the beauty in sexuality but also the hardships. Through my artwork, I explore and criticize gender roles and how people perceive gender. I highlight transsexuality and gender-fluidity issues such as hiding your identity and being ashamed of how you are. Being queer at a young age is hard and I hope to show relatability to other young queer kids that hide parts of them. I take a critical stance on how women are forced into a role of caretaker and femininity and the only way to be taken seriously is to have power, be famous, or in other words, a “star.” A star has always linked with notability in the industry. It is very important to delve into these topics because not only I have struggled with them, there is controversy in the topic. 

Growing up, I never doubted for a moment that art was my calling. When I was in kindergarten, I drew entire stories inside of my daily journal rather than writing them. From there, my creativity only expanded, my experiences paving the way for my art. I think that life isn’t a single set line, but a branch of everything you become, and everything you’ve been all at once. I believe that’s what makes us who we are. I know that’s what’s made me who I am. From drawing in my kindergarten journal to making full fledged pieces, I will continue to become. The question I am exploring in my ArtWorks piece is: does that “Becoming” continue after death?

Is death really the ending of life? Or is it the beginning of new life?  When people pass away, they are more than just a body. They are fuel for more life, whether it be plants, food for animals, or even their bloodline. Death can be inherently terrifying, but I prefer to think of it as allowing yourself to carry on through everything around you. My piece is a reflection of this idea: the mirror between both life and death, reaching into each other's world while nature surrounds them. Through mixed media such as acrylics and beading, I hope to show that identity isn’t linear, and that dying doesn’t kill the entire branch that came before. 

With the skills I have learned through my family, I try to apply them to my art. Therefore, with learning how to sew from my family, I wanted others to feel this joy through the bright oranges of the dress, while at the same time, feel the maturity of once being a child to now being a young adult. The change element of the light orange is the innocence and simplicity of being a child, to then those colors getting darker and vibrant as time moved, knowing who you are becoming from who you once were. With the colors conveying happiness, but also remembrance towards the journey I have been through, and towards the journey that is just starting. 

Kya Lostaunau’s artwork is about expressing her emotions and personal experiences through visual storytelling. She creates her pieces by experimenting with different materials, colors, and techniques, and lets the work grow naturally instead of sticking to a strict plan. She makes art because it helps her express things that are hard to say out loud and allows her to connect with other people. She's influenced mostly by her surroundings, friends, and contemporary artists who focus on identity and self-expression. Like a lot of artists today, her work reflects individuality and real-life emotions, but it’s still based on her perspective. She wants people to understand that her art doesn’t have just one meaning, it's open to interpretation. When shown with her peers' work, it adds another voice and viewpoint to the space. Some parts of her inspiration are personal, so she prefers to let the artwork speak for itself. Within an exhibition space, she hopes viewers notice the care and emotion placed into handmade objects and understand that each piece represents patience, learning, and personal history. She creates ceramics because it gives her a way to slow down, focus, and express myself in a tangible form. While she is open to discussing her process and inspiration, some emotional meanings remain personal because they come from important memories. 

This piece is done with charcoal. The perspective of lower angle is representing a kid’s vision, young immature one’s perspective toward the world surrounding it. The elements such as pencil case, books, and scissors crossing the street symbolizes the kid’s imagination overlapping the actual world, and its purity. The background; cars, street, big man’s feet, and buildings are the image of the society that pressuring the kid, and also the conclusion the kid will become a part of.  

This mixed media work, primarily acrylic, explores Becoming as a process shaped by both internal change and external influence. The figure is lit by a bright white and gold light, suggesting emergence, while her upward gaze reflects a desire to grow. A supernova at her chest represents intense inner transformation, and a flower growing from her body shows that change can be uncomfortable. A single wing suggests her potential to rise, though she is not yet able to fully do so. Reflective materials invite viewers to see themselves in the work, while the hands pressing into her body represent forces that can either support or hold her back. 

Art has always been a part of my journey. As I grew, so did the materials I used to create with. Going from messed up crayola crayons to using oil paints. Now using it to illustrate the concept of Becoming; who you are, who you were, and who you might be. Using imagery displayed as flowers, wildlife, and skeletons; hoping to convey a sense of depth and connection. I used imagery that each represents a different meaning, with the skeleton signifying death, and its beauty, the flower. The snake in this piece is also representing more than just the dangerous aspect of life. It's rebirth in its raw form. These images resonate with me deeply as I am fond of snakes and their dangerous beauty. While the flower represents a rose lily, innocence and purity, and my favorite flowers. The skeleton is a subject I’m quite experienced with painting. Overall, they add together to be up to interpretation while maintaining their connection with me. 

My work explores the reflection of my growth through memories, experiences, and the impact I leave behind. I am deeply influenced by my fascination with nature and my tendency to find meaning through symbolism. The tree represents the growth of life, discovery, and the formation of memories originating from the woman. Many people in my life have inspired me to learn, explore, and share knowledge with others. The branches of the tree are meant to contain the woman's knowledge, gained through experience and life. My process is intuitive and unplanned, allowing each piece to develop naturally. When viewing my artwork, my greatest desire is that others challenge themselves to find the deeper meaning in the piece and connect it to their own interpretations. From the hand of a woman, a rose grows from the ground, representing the future and the idea of new life continuing beyond me. I would like for the viewer to take from my art, be inspired by it, and become that rose. My work operates among my peers as a reflection of the core of creativity. The gift of life allows us to observe, learn, and create from those discoveries, and my art represents that gift. Through this work, I capture both where I come from and where I am going, showing a moment within an ongoing journey of change and discovery, as well as my aim to inspire others through my message.

I am covering the complexities of my life, from when I was young to the person I am now and the person I may become in the future. I am portraying that by making a spiral showing how I've changed over the years, for better and worse. I'm doing this because I feel people often avoid or are afraid to confront some parts that they feel ashamed of and I struggled with as well; and the only way I feel comfortable is by doing that through art. I want to provide something that I wish I had as a child, like complicated relationships with family so that even if one single person has that issue, they can have something that they feel they aren’t alone feeling this way. One of my major influences is my family and the experiences that I've gone through from interacting with others, both good and bad. My art is similar to my contemporaries, as in I wish to show growth and change . I want the takeaway to be to understand that while life isn't easy and happy, you can still become better, you still change to live a life you are okay with. I hope my work fits in with the work of my peers with our theme. I feel it does as it covers personal issues and trauma. 

The definition of the word ‘pentemento’ is the “visible trace of an earlier painting beneath a layer or layers of paint on a canvas.” I call this piece Pentementi, because–other than the obvious fact of me showing parts of the underpainting–it shows traces of me that are no longer there, but aren’t ignored. 

When I was growing up, art and creation connected me with my family but now that I have grown up more, I am able to reach more people and I can connect and communicate with the friends I haven’t made yet. My art is meant to encourage self acceptance, and to allow yourself to take everything you’ve experienced to help you grow. I was inspired to make this piece by a picture of a younger version of myself holding up a painting. It was bright and colorful. Looking at the picture was looking into a memory. The warmth of the summer, the joy of the day, and being surrounded by my cousins filled with laughter. I wanted to imbue this piece with those feelings of warmth. But I also wanted the shift that comes with growing up–because I am not that same little girl anymore. I will never be that girl again and I will never be the girl I am now again… with time comes change. All you can do is carry those changes close to your heart. I positioned the figure of the Present Auria painting the face of the Little Auria to show how my art can lead me to embrace my past and present self.

My artwork is meant to represent the feeling of wanting to hold on closely to a part of yourself that you don’t think you’ll ever let go of. The representation of the masked unicorn figure represents a personalized version of yourself that you want to keep close as you grow. The idea that the masked unicorn figure is to represent a glorified version of the past self, the mask hiding the unruly parts that you try to hide away, but still have to hold onto despite the harm it caused you. Holding onto the past, meaning you even have to hold onto the parts that hurt you, to see them and know they’re a part of you as well as the good that came from your past self. In my art piece, I used colored pencil as the main medium to give it a softer and comforting feeling. Colored pencils are a big part of many people’s childhoods, especially mine with how I’ve been drawing ever since I touched a pencil. The art piece also uses glitter, charms, and ribbon to show the feeling of childhood, and to also make you feel you’re in a childlike mind. My piece cooperates well with my peers as we are all becoming older and having to plan our futures, and as that happens, to me at least, becoming scared of losing a sense of a childlike whimsy. This piece shows how I’d wish to hold onto the parts of myself, good and even bad, as they make me the person I am today. 

My work explores human life, while reflecting the brief impactful life of a human. I utilize the color wheel to convey the pivotal ages in a human lifetime. My piece is meant to be read like a clock starting at 1. Starting with the color Red, to symbolize rebirth and the viewer experiences the early moments of birth. Then early childhood in Orange, while shifting into a Yellow hue to reference the teenage years. Green is the newfound adulting freedom, while Teal reflects the calm aspects of life like falling in love. Blue is the tranquil retirement age and Purple the acceptance of death. Pink is the conception starting over the cycle of new life. Finally adorned with a Black circle in the middle. A fingerprint figure stares at the viewer. Referencing the uniqueness of humans and the impending death that looms over us, at every stage of our life. Once the viewer steps back, they are confronted with an iris staring at the viewer. Now flipping the entire piece back to the more important life: yours.