The Culmination of the Very Beginning

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When I started this project four months ago, I had a clear goal to an end that I thought was absolutely perfect. After researching and yearning for a dream your whole life, it becomes less of a goal and more of an idea. I forgot that starting an organization was a possible prospect until a professor noticed how my eyes lit up talking about it. Then, that was it, it became my project. A three year project to culminate in my capstone art piece senior year. I thought I knew what I was doing, but as soon as people started asking me questions and I met the people I wanted to work with, I realized how big this really was and how uneducated I was going into it. But the ambition was there, so I took weekends to drive back home so I could spend time with refugees at the center. I took photos of them, played games with them, laughed with them. When it's all set and done, I actually really miss them. There was a spark in that place that I had never experienced before and in that moment I knew I had something immensely special I couldn't let go of. My hours of research and time spent with these kids was a beautiful thing that I wanted to show, even though it wasn't done. So I came up with this collage. I printed out everything I'd done for three months on crappy university printer paper, tore it up, and, with love, care, modge podge, and paint, created what I felt. I glued it all together while my legs went numb sitting on my concrete studio floor in the middle of the night. I never felt more awake and alive, though. This four foot by three food board is more than a painting, but a community in the making in my heart, one that's existed in my town forever, always changing and growing. I was touched by these people and to the best of my ability, I put it down in this piece.