Overwhelm

gloria zhu

My body of work is centered around the consuming feelings of alienation and anxiety, especially in social or public situations. The motif of eyes is repeated throughout the series, emphasizing how these feelings come about as a result of personal perception and mental state rather than outside influences. I intend to depict both the capability to feel extremely embroiled in a space, as if everyone is staring at me, as well as the almost opposite feeling that one is alienated and a million miles away from everyone else; part of my goal is to point out the irony of how we see ourselves from our perspective as the center of the universe, when in reality we all look the same—  and anonymous—in a crowd. 

I picked materials according to what I thought would best suit the purpose of each piece; for example, I used oil pastel for a piece that was meant to convey more heavy and intrusive feelings.

Gloria Zhu is a junior from The Harker School in California. She has received Scholastic Art & Writing Awards across several disciplines, including two National Medals in design. She is excited about creating interdisciplinary work across visual arts and traditional STEM fields such as mathematics.