The theme this year, “accepting imperfections” is a broad umbrella that can be dissected many different ways. When faced with the prompt this year, Ananya Koimuttum played into the theme by crafting her art while embracing imperfections.
Creating a charcoal drawing, Koimuttum could not begin with a pencil sketch due to the slip the graphite makes.
“I had to go straight with charcoal instead of sketching with pencil, so it was a process. It was harder, but it tied into the theme because all your work had to be part of the final result,” Koimuttum said.
Despite the difficulty it gave her, Koimuttum still feels success in her work, especially after seeing the finished piece. However, she notes that the best part of art is sharing it with other people.
“I’ve been drawing since I was young, and I do it as an expression. Mostly, I just have too many things that I want to express. So it’s not what I feel, but it’s what I want to create,” Koimuttum said.
With her art, Koimuttum hopes to inspire people to come to terms with their background, conveying ideas of home.
“I tied my work to every individual being this piece of pottery. We’re all shaped by who we come from and where we’re raised.” Koimuttum said. “An imperfection is not really an imperfection at all because they come from a place of love.”
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Painting and drawings aren’t the only things that can be entered, though. Reflections also welcomes photographs, films, and literature submissions.
Angelina Chen entered her film “Chasing the Pumpkin Carriage,” which details a dream-chasing teenage girl and her confrontation with a date who stood her up. Chen tells her story through a series of chapters, making a statement about how people should not use movies as a blueprint for their real life.
“Accepting imperfection in my film is accepting what you have and making the most out of it. It’s about focusing on your passions instead of pursuing a false image from a movie,” Chen said.
Chen hopes to spread this moral from her camera to a wider audience.
“The best part about entering is finally having your work get the recognition it deserves. All the hard work, all the commitment that you spend putting this together finally gets seen,” Chen said.
Chen had been working on her film since August of this year. She finished it in late October and then entered it into the contest.
“It felt like something that I just really wanted to tell as a really cool concept. The best part in creating this type of art is just having your vision come to life. You’re seeing yourself improve every single time, and there’s so much to take away from it,” Chen said.
