ARTPRIZE 2024
"It'll Be Okay In A Year"
ARTIST STATMENT
Sadness is only temporary. While the feeling may be strong in the moment, it subsides over time. We all feel sadness once in a while. In 2020, I created my own prompt list for daily drawings during the month of October. On the sixth day, I drew an image of a ghost cutting onions for the prompt “crying ghost.” While in the moment I saw it as ironic, I soon realized that this concept connected with a lot of people. Two years later, I painted this sad ghost on the legal graffiti wall in Creston and it became an “unofficial” mascot of the Grand Rapids neighborhood. People related to it and the simple tears coming down the ghost’s face. I soon connected this image to the phrase “It’ll be okay,” and continued to draw more sad ghosts doing everyday things that could be seen as minor inconveniences that disturb the flow of the day. The overall message is that the everyday struggles of living your life are never as big as they seem and sadness fades over time.
For this series, I wanted to illustrate the feeling of being okay throughout the span of a year. Using the sad ghost as the protagonist, people can see themselves in each month being portrayed. Although each month is not explicitly labeled, the viewer should be able to interpret the calendar through the minor inconveniences displayed in all twelve images, and know that in the end it’ll be okay.
For this series, I wanted to illustrate the feeling of being okay throughout the span of a year. Using the sad ghost as the protagonist, people can see themselves in each month being portrayed. Although each month is not explicitly labeled, the viewer should be able to interpret the calendar through the minor inconveniences displayed in all twelve images, and know that in the end it’ll be okay.
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