Step by Step: How to Fold a Crane: In this piece, I provide a unique twist on a set of origami instructions by using paper to represent the journey of life. Everyone starts as a blank sheet of paper, and as we strive toward our goals, we make etches, folds, and creases on this paper. However, things don’t always go as we originally planned. Despite—and perhaps because of—the mistakes we make along the way, the end product is still beautifully unique.

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Paper Airplanes: At any given point in time, the future branches out in an unimaginable number of possibilities. As we cruise along our flight path, making decisions at crossroads, those possibilities converge into the concrete present. These folded copies of my school’s newspaper over a map of San Jose represent my current physical reality. Even though I will inevitably leave behind places, people, and experiences, all of them will forever be a permanent part of my journey. We must remember to take agency over our present to pave our own path.

 

We Draw Their Peaces: Most of us see glimpses of conflict and war only through media platforms like Instagram. As I sat in an ice cream shop on a ship headed for Honduras, I scrolled through street photography I had taken of people I met and talked to on my travels. Physical separation is also a mental separation. I asked myself how I, as an artist, could reconcile the distance between lived realities and the filtered versions we consume. This piece uses charcoal to mimic the weight of ash. The origami dove is at once hopeful yet fragile. By selectively obscuring parts of the image, I encourage viewers to focus on the parts left untouched—hope amidst chaos.