Summer 2026 M-TAC Gallery

Cel Koch

Cel is a Thai American background artist and animator based in Las Vegas. He works primarily with digital, exploring history, fantasy, and gothic themes. They graduated Gobelins Preparatory Year in Animation in 2026, and plans to return to formal education in 2027. For the time being he has been working in indie animation and building new skills.

Artist Statement:

I love creating backgrounds that tell their own story, bursting with detail and life. Budding from my love of poetry, my work blends dark, gothic, often historical works, with fantasy and whimsy. I hold much importance to representing locations, time periods, and peoples accurately as I believe art to be an amazing way to educate: so in the details of every drawing are hours and hours of research.

Eesha Sree Pallothu

I work primarily with graphite and other dry media like charcoal, but I’ve started to explore wet media like acrylic paint recently. I try to maintain a realistic style and use techniques like layering with paint and a combination of blending and adding texture by erasing with graphite, to achieve that effect. I’m inspired by animals and nature to create my work and generally use photo references. Seeing other artists create their own unique work pushes me to keep making art. I try to explore themes reflecting societal expectations, like its influence on one’s identity. I want my art to tell the story of many people who experience the pressures of society. I use realism to convey those messages to allow the viewer to connect visually to the piece because of its familiarity. When I work with graphite, I use texture to create that effect to compensate for the lack of color. I want my art to invoke deep thought in the viewer and give them an opportunity to think about the little things that affect them the most.

Artist Statement:

This piece is made with acrylic paint on a canvas. It depicts a metallic looking face with a red background and floating spheres in pastel yellow and pink. This is made to represent one’s self reflection into their childhood, represented by the metallic effect (showing reflection) and the spheres made to look like balls one would play with in their childhood. This work combines a cartoonish effect with a more realistic effect to blend both stages of life. This work challenged me because of its size and complexity. My inspiration was an artwork I previously made with charcoal about one’s identity, with the same metallic effect.
 

Henry Ulstein

Henry is a queer, Wasian, mixed media artist living in Bellevue, WA and going into his senior year in high school. He has experience and interest in theater, choir, writing, illustration and animation. Henry come from a very artistic family, living with his single parent and 5 siblings who he’d like to thank for always inspiring and supporting him.
He has a year of Digipen college credit in 2D animation through the WANIC program as well already being accepted for next school year and is looking into Digipen as a potential college option. Henry would describe himself as chill, nature loving, curious, and playful, and he strives to spread creativity and good vids though his art and daily life

Artist Statement:

This peace is inspired by the Japanese koi flag with elements of Scandinavian art in honor of my mixed race ancestry.

Ixchel Chan

Ixchel Chan is a 15-year-old mixed-media artist based in Los Angeles County, California. Her work focuses on themes of identity, nature, and cultural heritage, primarily painted with acrylic and watercolor. Through her pieces, she aims to depict intersectionality and nuanced perspectives regarding social justice. Her work is influenced by the impressionist movement and artists like Stephen Zhang and Jackie Liu. At the 2026 Make Noise Today Student Exhibition Launch, her work was exhibited at Edison Theatre as a semifinalist, along with other youth AAPI artists. This summer, she has received guidance from art mentors in the Mentorship for Teen Artists of Color (M-TAC), a program organized by TeenTix and The Colorization Collective.

Artist Statement:

The mixed-media pieces I create are a manifestation of my perspective towards my identity, nature, and social justice. I explore dichotomy and diversity in my work: the beauty of both the seemingly mundane, ordinary moments and the highlight experiences. Using acrylic and watercolor, my paintings enable me to reflect on my community and Asian-American identity, representing inner growth and acceptance. I hope that my illustrations will emanate warmth and allow other people to feel seen, while also igniting curiosity within those who view it.

Katherine Chang

Kathy is a 17-year-old Asian American artist based in Houston, TX. She enjoys creating art both digitally and traditionally, typically using graphite and gouache on textured paper. Although her work has primarily focused on monochromatic art, she is expanding her skillset by experimenting with a wider range of colors and new artistic mediums. Kathy creates art as a way to unwind and find peace after a busy week. Her work mainly takes inspiration from the beauty of nature and the people she loves. She is currently developing a series of gouache paintings that explore themes of escapism and reconnecting with nature.

Artist Statement:

Hellooo! My name is Katherine, but most people know me as Kathy. I create art both traditionally and digitally using gouache, graphite, and digital drawing programs such as Krita and Ibis Paint X. Much of my work is inspired by the world around me and the emotions I experience, allowing me to transform everyday observations into visual stories. My current series of gouache paintings explores nature as a place of comfort and escape from the modern world.

Liliana Awal

My name is Liliana. I am a 15-year-old African-American/Hispanic artist based in Seattle, WA. I love doing many types of art, but I primarily use acrylic, and I have been creating ever since I can remember. Most of my art stems from my identity and life experiences, and I have been a part of many art programs, including the Teentix M-TAC 2025 and 2026 galleries.

Artist Statement:

My work is inspired by my identity and life experiences. I like trying many different types of art, but I primarily work with acrylic paint. I mostly paint people. I want my art to tell the story of me as a person, and I hope people, when they see my art, can see the quiet part out loud and leave feeling something.

Luisa Rodriguez

Luisa Rodriguez, in the art world known as Diamond Queen, is a Seattle-based artist whose work is heavily inspired by anime and character design. She specializes in drawing the human form, with a strong focus on anatomy, expression, and dynamic poses. Her preferred medium is traditional pencil on paper, where she brings her characters to life through detailed sketches and original illustrations.

Artist Statement:

I chose to create my art on shoes because I love the idea of my work going with you wherever you go. Instead of hanging on a wall, it becomes a part of your everyday life—walking through new places, making memories, and telling its own story.

Every pair is created with blasting music, a lot of passion, and whatever creative energy I'm feeling in the moment. I want each design to have its own personality and bring a little extra color, confidence, and fun to your day. My hope is that when you wear my art, you're not just wearing a pair of shoes—you're carrying a piece of my creative journey with you.
 

Miniya Dickens is a self-taught digital artist. She’s a student in North Carolina studying Animation and Business Administration. As an African & Native American artist she aims to create representation for people of color in online communities centered around various cartoons, shows and books. By doing this she hopes to encourage more people to bring diversity into their creations, to not be scared to go outside of their comfort zone, and learn more about the wonderfully diverse world around us.

Artist Statement:

Hey! I’m Miniya, I’m an African and Native American digital artist. Through whimsical and radiant designs I want continue to bring distant mythical worlds to life through my own character designs and building onto pre-existing worlds. I also want to showcase to the online community the much needed representation of people of color from all around the world one art work at a time.

Nathania McKenzie

Nathania is a Jamaican-born, NYC-based artist who has been honing her craft since middle school, drawing constant inspiration from nature and everyday life. While her primary focus is digital and traditional painting, she occasionally explores graphic illustration. As an incoming college freshman, she plans to study design and computer science with the goal of improving digital media accessibility and cultural relevance for users.

Artist Statement:

Hello, I’m Nathania! My work is deeply inspired by the richness of my Caribbean heritage. Working in acrylic, gouache and digital mediums, I aim to captivate viewers' attention through use of vivid, tropical colors. My practice moves between semi-realistic portraiture and landscape studies, blending childhood memories with my life abroad to pay homage to my roots while exploring the diverse cultures of New York City.

My name is selene, and i am an artist based in the tacoma/gig harbor area.
I enjoy creating my pieces using pencil primarily but i do use acrylics occasionally. I am inspired by women i see online and the different shows and video games that i consume.
I have been making art for as long as i can remember but i really started to get serious when i was around eight or nine. I hope to find people with the same interests as me and make them happy to see their favorite media represented.

Artist Statement:

I love to create art of all my favorite characters, either mine or from tv shows and video games. I tend to draw quick pencil sketches but i also like to work with acrylics from time to time. I hope to inspire people in the same fandoms as me and make them happy to see art of their favorite characters. When i create art i hope to find people with the same interests as me. When i made this piece i really wanted to try something interesting with the lighting to create a lot of depth and emotion. Five nights at Freddys is my favorite game and i really wanted to create this piece to show how much joy it brings me.

Shirley Wu

Shirley Wu is a fifteen year-old Taiwanese-american digital painter living in the Seattle area. Her work focuses on her narrative and oftentimes incorporates a lot of texture or graphic details. In the future, she would love to continue drawing even while pursing a medical career.

Shumaylah Sheikh

Hi, I’m Shumaylah Sheikh, a thirteen-year-old self-taught artist based in Kent, Washington, who’s been creating art for as long as I can remember. I enjoy doing both visual and fiber art pieces, including traditional, digital, and crochet art. My inspiration often comes from my family, books, movies, video games, and everyday life. I love exploring different kinds of mediums through my artwork where my main focus ranges from still-life, nature, people, and animals. The message I want to convey through my art is creating something that can resonate with others while expressing myself, cultural identity, and interests using emotions like joy and happiness, with a large palette of vibrant colors and different tools.

Artist Statement:

My art is inspired by my family, the books I read, movies I watch, the video games I play, and everyday life. The art I create is a way to express myself, my cultural identity, emotions, personality, and interests. To convey so many different aspects in my art, I enjoy using a variety of vibrant colors to express these themes and ideas. My visual artworks start as sketches, which I color or paint, for my fiber art, they begin as a few stitches and rounds that I keep building until I have a final piece. For my audience, I want my art to be open to different interpretations, allowing them to have rich conversations on how they view my art, and their perspectives around it. 
 

Stina King

My name is Stina King, I’m fifteen years old, and I’m from the Broadview area here in Seattle. I’ve been painting since I was a little girl and have been falling more and more in love with it as I’ve gotten older. While I currently work primarily in oil paints on canvas, I’ve recently been experimenting with different mediums, such as acrylic paint on canvas and wood carving. Nature is often the primary theme of my work, with lilypads appearing a recurring motif through many of my pieces. My art also draws heavily upon my culture and my identity as an Asian-American Indigenous woman. I also draw inspiration from other artists, such as Monet, Manet, and Renoir, and also more local artists, such as my mentors, Shruti Ghatak, Joe Borgford-Parnell, Devin MacDonald, and David and Aozora. My mentors have really helped shape my artistic style, which currently focuses on building texture, emphasized brush work, and layered applications of paint. Through my work, I hope to encourage people to view and interact with the world, especially nature, in a more conscious manner. When I’m not painting in my bedroom or in the studio, you’ll usually find me running, listening to music, reading, or baking.

Artist Statement:

I enjoy creating paintings in both acrylic and oil, drawing inspiration from nature, my culture, and the works of other artists. Through my paintings, I hope to encourage viewers to see the world in a more deliberate manner, especially the beauty and complexity of nature. Through expressive brushstrokes and a build up of texture, I strive to communicate a feeling of intentional observation in my pieces. Each of my paintings are titled in my tribe’s native language, Samish, as a way of honoring those who came before me, and preserving an important part of my cultural identity. I often paint elements that can be found in our traditional homeland, blending traditional landscapes with western painting techniques and influences. Through a combination of my cultures, I hope my work will serve as a personal tribute and an invitation for others to appreciate the elegance and ephemeral beauty of nature, along with the history of the land around us.

Yashika Verma

Zoie Harter

Zoie Harter is an epileptic, Texas-based, multidisciplinary artist who creates stylized paintings, illustrations, and mixed-media projects around identity and her struggles with disability. She creates pieces in a variety of mediums in the pursuit of destigmatizing epilepsy and connecting with other disabled people. Her art has won several state-level awards through National Beta Club, and one national-level award. She has been featured in a regional gallery through the program M-TAC (Mentorship for Teen Artists of Color) via the Colorization Collective and TeenTix, and was even selected as a spotlighted artist through social media during her time in the program. She is currently working on a series of works related to her experiences with disability as well as a children’s book featuring a young girl’s journey with epilepsy, identity and her relationships.

Artist Statement:

I happen to be the 1 of 26. That’s the probability of being diagnosed with epilepsy at some point in your life. After receiving my diagnosis at 14, I now work to create pieces that speak to my experiences, that showed I was here, and just maybe help other people understand some of the challenges that disabled people face. I create in a variety of mediums, such as acrylic, gouache, oil, oil pastels, watercolor, and mixed media. With each piece I show a different piece of me - a different experience, aspect of my community, part of my identity, all of it in the pursuit of making this world a more compassionate place for disabled folks.

Zuri Sarabia

I’m a 17 year old high school local artist, I like to do acrylic paintings and paper sketches with pencil. I like to create art to spread creativity and become more and more passionate about what I make. I like to listen to music while painting so I can give my audience masterpieces that I’ve dedicated my whole focus to.

Artist Statement:

I like to use different palettes that compliment each color so that my paintings draw you in. I’m careful with each brushstroke so that my work isn’t just paint, but a canvas filled with emotion that viewers can explore.

Amaya Sanchez was also part of the virtual visual arts cohort.

Jadah Egbo

"For years in the United States, there has been a steady rise in Americans struggling with paying bills and affording housing, eventually finding themselves homeless with barely any programs in place to help them get back on their feet. Many share the opinion that homelessness is not an issue for the government to interfere with, and would only serve to promote dependency instead of self-sufficiency or responsibility. I, however, believe that the government should start taking active measures to make the cost of housing more affordable to reduce the homeless population."

Read more of "Why Government Inaction is Aiding the Homelessness Epidemic" HERE!

Pim Roe

"You’d assume the tools are rather dull.
culling blades are being filed
wildly my mind wonders why no one has taken a slice

mice and other rodents begin to gather
rather than notice i stay unbothered
fodder became hard to differentiate
from Chocolate Cake both consumed

i presume it depends on conditions
or positions they were previously left in
wins are considered when cows eat shrubs
and bugs know they belong to frogs
as dogs know what happens to pigs at the end of the ride"

Read more of "Slice of Life" HERE!

Mixed race poet and lyricist, Pim Roe, works in California to show how overwhelming thoughts can manifest physically. This writer pulls from personal experiences living with invisible disorders and fighting currents from the pipelines that come when they are not taken seriously within marginalized communities, medically or elsewhere. Much of Roe’s work proves that the struggles which appear frequently are much harder to squander when being diminished in a moment of quandary. Written poems, collections, and their spoken words aim to help process the feelings that can grow most comfortable when left felt but unseen. Roe currently volunteers to review essays for homeschool students applying to college. They were also a finalist for The Unsealed as well as a mentee under Teen Tix and The Colorization Collective's M-TAC. 

Artist Statement:

While I do not typically like cake, I like what it can represent when keeping a decorated exterior in the context of a celebration or when baked poorly by someone like myself who should not have thought to set foot near the mix.
In this piece I stepped into the mind of someone actively discovering what it is like to have a taste of the outside world after having a slice of life from the inside. It was made from the desire to express the emotions that come with growing up being subjected to unfortunate circumstances that were taught to be normal. I find it important to acknowledge desensitization in youth due to it leaving many people hypervigilant and expecting events in their childhood to reoccur despite there not being an active threat or people tolerating the same circumstances between adolescence and adulthood because it is comfortable and familiar. 
 

Saeesha Bhargava

"Like bile      Bubbles up the throat      pours out the mouth     folds the fists     tenses the tender skin till its taut against a fragile heart that’s been tossed around thrown between the mind mourning the loss of hope of being the toughest, the truest, the bravest, the beautiful and the body that’s scalded and scarred by hot wax    pushed past the place of comfort   ripped out of the womb premature and thrust into a world where mother loves you and mother knows best but mother’s love can’t stand the test of strength, of sincerity, of grit, of glamour and everyone has what you don’t have so starve, run, trim, butter, boil, curate the body that never fails the mind’s incessant orders coming as steadily as the beating of the heart you beat and stretch and smash and break every time you think of yourself as a mistake"

Read more of Saeesha's poems HERE!

Saeesha Bhargava is a Seattle based writer and student. Her work (largely poetry, creative nonfiction, short stories) explores her cultural heritage, the American Dream, and the intricacies of interpersonal relationships. She's studied under Meredith Arena and Jourdan Emani Keith. She has served as a Seattle Youth Poetry fellow, and writes as a columnist for The Milking Cat.

Artist Statement:

I've thought a lot recently about being known - specifically, what it means to know someone beyond the superficial. We live in a world where comparison is constant and readily available - on social media, in politics, always in our relationships. It sometimes feels like everyone disillusioned with one another, making snap judgements. No one feels this harder than the teenage girl. My set of poems seeks to explore jealousy and a conflicting desires - being seen how you want to be seen versus being known truly.

Selene Quintero Rodriguez

"All is quiet.

Except for the deafening,
Yet unmistakable shatter of glass,
The sickening crunch of bone,
Their screams ringing in the long-forgotten, frozen air.

Their guttural cries rippling the incessant spill of red,
As it claws its way down,
Rock by rock,
Never forgetting a single stone.
Leaving no choice but to seep past their bones,
And into their once-worn clothes."

Read more of "1943" HERE!

Selene Quintero Rodriguez is a Latina, Seattle based writer. For the past several years she has delved into articles and the art of poetry, having those be her preferred styles of writing. Some of the main themes she explores take root from her interest in psychology, such as nature vs. nurture, or from her real life experiences growing up as a person of color and advocating for immigrants rights. Selene attended a summer program at Oxford, where she gave a presentation on the conformity crisis within her generation. Additionally, she has led and organized a fundraiser to assist with legal fees for the Pacific Northwest Immigrants Rights Project. Lastly, she has continued her passion for writing through learning with other writers in the Colorization Collective’s Writing Cohort.

Artist Statement:

My writing takes form mainly in poetry. All of my work is influenced by the life I’ve lived in Seattle and everything I experience, whether through books or media. I chose to create 1943 because for some people, no one wants to fight for an issue that isn’t theirs. But many don’t realize that the inhumane treatment of Latinos goes deeper than “simple” deportations.

Shruthi Raman

"Supposedly, my cosmic frequency is 500. However, I am not religious. The spiritual, for me, comes not from predefined words or the readymade emotion, but a shimmer that trickles from my fingertips, my lips, my swollen eyes, and my gasp, the color of butterflies in my eyelashes and pearls cradled under my arm. All that is absolute, so I can only cry and think of colors too vivid, invisible to the human eye. With that said, I believe in tarot cards and I do believe in magic. A friend of mine recently had a tarot card reading with us, three, curiously standing by. I admire her; when she paints my nails, she wipes the excess off on her shirt and jeans, and she chooses to pay for a tarot reading. At the end of it, each of us could ask one question. Mine: “how will my breakup go?”

Read more of "Yes, God is a Woman; Soul Food as a Girl in a Modern Time" HERE!

Shruthi Raman is an Indian-American creative writer based in the greater Seattle area. In her creative practice, she listens to stories of humanity as told through the natural world, relationships, and youthful wonder—and crafts written works that meander through the tides of heart and heartbreak, explore the concept of community-informed identity, and delight in the magic of femininity and friendship. Shruthi is an editor for her high school Yearbook and participated in the 2026 MTAC cohort; she fuels her creative vision with community as a volunteer at the Vera Project, event planner with the TeenTix Teen Connectors, and as an intern at Tilth Alliance. Most greatly, she values her interdisciplinary experiences: four years of theatre performance, independent visual art through drawing and painting, and her creative drive that infuses her academic work with imagination.

Artist Statement:

Interpersonal relationships so creatively present themselves, and my inspiration for this piece of creative nonfiction was the curious shimmer they exude. Despite being engaged with a grounded modern reality, I aimed to set my work afloat with the airy ebb and flow of youthful femininity. I hope a reader can wander with me through the collective feminine glow I sought to describe, the magic of friendship, and the roles of religion and intuition as guiding forces. At its core, my piece encourages us all to be in tune with our pearls and glitter.

Carina McDonald and Jimmy Afolabi were also in this cohort.

Evangeline Mujica

Evangeline Mujica is a theater actress, visual artist, and writer based in New York City. She has performed in plays and musicals in The Chapin School for four years, acting, singing, and dancing in seven productions. She is inspired and driven by her love of Broadway productions and an eagerness to understand and depict complex emotions within a wide range of characters. Evangeline has worked with professional theater educators and directors in The Chapin School to embody roles ranging from Matron Mama Morton in Chicago to Helena in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night's Dream. Additionally, she has performed as a featured singer in Mamma Mia and as lead roles in four student-written original plays. She is currently working with the Colorization Collective in The Mentorship for Teen Artists to create two new performance pieces. In addition to her artistry within the performing arts realm, Evangeline has won four Scholastic Art and Writing awards for photography and mixed media art, and a national award for the memoir “Petals From Your Palms.”

Artist Statement:

My piece blends performances of Elizabeth’s monologue from the play Witch (Jen Silverman) and an excerpt from the novel Carmilla (J. Sheridan Le Fanu) to create a vignette that expresses themes of love, humanity (or lack thereof), self-reflection, and sacrifice. I performed both pieces separately, then cut up, rearranged, and combined each video to show how the stories of two very different characters diverge and intersect; Elizabeth is an isolated and scrutinized woman accused of being a witch by her town, contemplating selling her soul in exchange for a granted wish; on the other hand, Carmilla is a vampire infiltrating the home and heart of a young woman, slowly exposing her true malicious nature. My piece contrasts the thought processes of something inhuman feigning vulnerability to be seen as a person, subtly revealing its lack of understanding of love, and of a person whose humanity has been stripped from her by society, and with it an anchored understanding of herself. This piece serves as a challenge posed to myself to embody two disparate characters, bearing differing emotions and motives that permeate my performance and can be truly felt through the screen by audiences.

Mak Petersen

Mak is a BFA Musical Theatre student at Catawba college and a North Carolina based actor. He has performed in school productions, done community theatre, and has been selected for musical theatre intensive shows. Mak's roles and productions often have themes of identity, relationships, and morality. Notable credits include: The Wizard of Oz (Ensemble) and Love/Sick (Man, Andy, Bill, Kevin) at Catawba College; Dungeons and Drama (Ensemble) by Seahorse Trash Productions; Misunderstood Monsters (Arawn, Mothman, Anasi); The Little Mermaid (Sebastian) with Clayton Theatricals; and Heathers (Big Bud Dean) and the TRACT Sings Miscast Cabaret with Theatre Raleigh ACT. Mak additionally has been awarded the Catawba College Tiffany Cox Scholarship for dedicated theatre arts student and was elected President of the Where Are the Diamonds? Improv troupe on campus. Mak is currently working doing another season with Mythik Camps as an improv actor.

Artist Statement:

Super Therapy is a short film I wrote and acted in. It follows Kingston, a younger, passionate and talented superhero who has been suspended from his job pending review. The film explores the identity of being a public figure, questions the power of authority, and shows the importance of mental health. When we think about the future, we hope that injustices will cease to occur. I wanted to pose the question of what if they don’t? I was heavily inspired by pieces of media that dive into superhuman worlds that are in no way perfect, specifically taking note of the anime My Hero Academia, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the show Umbrella Academy. My production schedule included researching therapy session questions, compiling characters and their shows/movies that aligned with my vision, making rough draft and then finalized script, creating a shot list, designing a costume using wardrobe pieces from my resources, filming, and editing the clips together.

Nadia Maurou-Dikeni

"Here I am, beneath the aurora skies.

[Reach out toward the stars] 

Stretching endlessly above me, entwined in a world of colors. Drifting across the darkness. 

How beautiful do they look? Stars seemingly, randomly, scattered, form a beautiful constellation. 

Searching endlessly for something

Maybe people are like that.

Maybe love is too.

I’ve never been in love.

Seen the light that shines through again and again without fail. 

Slowing time down until it completely stops. 

For some reason, time never speeds when I’m with you."

Read the rest of Nadia's monologue, "Searching for the Stars," HERE!

Nadia Maurou-Dikeni is a Seattle-based actress, photographer/videographer, dancer, and writer. Currently a student at University Prep in Seattle, WA, she has worked as an actress and dancer in the musical Addams Family and played in Clue as Yvette, often focusing her work through dramatics and comedies. Outside of acting she has also learned about technical lighting, sound, and storytelling as well as began intersecting cinema and theatre by filming live performances at University Prep. At the Northwest School in Seattle, WA, Nadia has worked with an analog camera, learning how to develop her own film and shooting her own photos. Furthering her education outside of school, Nadia was also selected as a performing artist at the Colorization Collective where she created and performed her own monologue drawing inspiration from her own life and through connecting with other artists, in her eyes, exploring identity, what means to belong, connect, suffer, and feel free—the constant search of self-discovery. She often draws inspiration from her Togolese culture dances and often performs them locally. She has won a Scholastic Regional Gold Key Critical Essay for her piece titled “The Thief of Connection & Joy.”

Artist Statement:

My piece is titled “Searching,” in which I give myself full autonomy in how I wanted to present this piece to the world. By colliding the world of writing and performance, I explored how art can be used as a tool to tell a story. My monologue is mainly interpretations of works from various choreographers and dances such as Richard Crouchley, Emma Scherer, Arka Kinari, Bomba, Togolese dancers, flamenco, jive, and actors: Axel Auriant and Maxence Danet-Fauvel while also drawing from my own personal experiences. My piece explores the meaning of movement and all types of love—from myself, to an audience, platonic, romantic, all of it. I also explore identity, what it means to suffer, and to be free. Art is a place for me to hold my emotional vulnerability, express myself, constantly discover myself, and the people around me. I get to do that through the world of dance and admire what it brings. I love how art serves as a bridge between individuals, helping all of us find belonging even in the darkness. When listening to this piece, I want you to ask what it means to feel, observe, and connect through performance. As well, I hope this monologue serves as a means to dig deeper into your life and the world around you.

Sinatra Kirvin

"This pain and hurt traces my brain,

it became so familiar I forgot how to enjoy the sunlight when it didn’t rain

I've been through days when I was trying to carry baggage alone,that wasn’t meant for me to carry, I've been through days when my mask failed to cover more than just my face

I've been through days wondering when my “different” would find a better word than unique, wondering if my “different” could be accepted by society 

I've been through days where I hid, trying to play hide and seek with reality

and I've been through days when I just longed for it to be night, but the sun (Son) at the crack of dawn reminded me that there was light"

Read more of "I've Been Through Days" HERE!

Sinatra is a Seattle-based writing and dance artist. The themes of Sinatra's work include vulnerability and hope. Sinatra believes vulnerability is important and valuable, and that there is something freeing about being vulnerable and allowing space for vulnerability.
By being able to say and express things that some people may be afraid to admit or don't know how to express, she hopes to let people know they aren't alone. She also hopes to leave people with not only vulnerability, but hope and encouragement.

Sinatra has been a part of Seattle Theatre Group programs such as Elevate, Dance This Youth Choreographers' Lab, and Young Ambassadors. She is also a member of The Backstage Foundation's Backstage Pass program and was a part of its Capture the Moment project.

Sinatra values being able to give back, and through joining these programs, she has been able to connect with and support her community while continuing to grow as an artist.

Artist Statement:

The medium I work in is written and spoken poetry. This piece is in the form of written poetry and is meaningful to me because of the importance of allowing space to be vulnerable and being able to touch on things that I wasn’t the most comfortable touching on before. I feel this piece can be relatable for anyone regardless of age, and really hope whoever reads this is encouraged. This piece touches on things I’ve struggled with and sometimes still do, but also acknowledges the growth that has happened and also how my faith in Jesus has been important on this journey.

Sreejani Batabyal

Sreejani is a 15-year-old Seattle based visual artist, musician, actor, and occasional writer. She has been taking lessons for almost ten years, inspired by bright colors, abstract emotions, and still life. She has won a few art competitions in her life including second place for her painting in her age group at Washington State Art of Conservation and Select Ribbon for her photos at Washington State Highschool Photography Competition. Shifting over to music, she has taken six years of Hindustani Classical vocal lessons along with four years of Western voice lessons from jazz to rock to musical theatre with Angela McGawn and CJ Lorenz at Cascade Vocal Academy and is about to start a teaching and business internship there. She placed first twice for regionals in the National Adjudication of Teachers in Singing. Additionally, she has two years of experience with Hindustani Classical guitar lessons under Seattle Raga Institute, placed first for her level, and another three years of lessons in Western music. Within acting, she began in eighth grade with Matilda Jr. and since then she has been in Into the Woods, Animal Farm, The Prom and starred in a few one-acts and short films. She is also a Youth Leader for actors at FrightTown, a local non-profit. Moreover, she is about to begin her first year in the Pre-Professional Institute program at Village Theatre. Lastly as a writer she is in her school newspaper, a member of National English Honors Society, has participated in PNW Model United Nations, and is currently stirring up a book review blog.

Artist Statement:

“Thought A Lot” is an original song to portray the conflicting thoughts of liking a person and having everything in your environment remind you of them, yet they themselves never seem to be there. Using my voice and tinkering with a digital audio workshop, I constructed a demo of the song and recorded the process of creating it. The simplicity of the lyrics is to convey that when it boils down to it, you like a person who just may not reciprocate the same feelings. I wrote this song long after my personal experience, hence the upbeat melody and tempo reflect how in hindsight, the whole situation was essentially comical. Far from a sob story and inspired by swing and jazz, this song is a fun expression of complicated feelings.