Purple Girl by Violet Kumagai

Artist’s Statement:

My work is a reflection of the emotional struggle to balance childhood nostalgia with adult responsibility as I mature within a society that undervalues empathy and vulnerability. Creating art assists me in overcoming the anxiety associated with emotionally taxing life events while I have sought a form of idealized perfection that references undefined expectations surrounding growing older. By preserving moments of personal significance in textiles, I become vulnerable, and am able to abandon the anxiety and nostalgia which prevents me from growing as a person. I aim to assist us in becoming less guarded as a society, and to learn to accept and respect one another’s myriad insecurities.

About the Artist:

Grade 12, Etobicoke School of the Arts | Toronto, Ontario