<![CDATA[THE COLORIZATION COLLECTIVE

<![CDATA[THE COLORIZATION COLLECTIVE - Blog]]>Mon, 25 May 2026 14:45:05 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[Comfort Through Creation: August Burgess]]>Mon, 25 May 2026 18:49:44 GMThttps://www.colorizationcollective.org/blog/august-burgess-comfort-through-creation

"Scotty Doesn't Know" by August Burgess.

By Anya Shukla

August is a self-taught artist from Atlanta, Georgia, who joined the MTAC program’s visual arts cohort. He participated in the program over Zoom and worked towards a reflective “self-portrait” final project over the course of five meetings. August had never created a self-reflective piece before and was excited to push himself to explore a new aspect of visual arts. Throughout the program, August enjoyed journaling; writing down his thoughts helped him determine what his artwork should focus on and its color scheme.

August has been creating comics since the 4th grade. He described his current style as “semi-realism” and worked with a variety of mediums, including colored and regular pencils, alcohol markers, and acrylic paint. When he was younger, he would struggle from art block—“when I draw all the time, I get super burnt out,” he noted—and this is still an issue that he deals with today. However, he finds that when it comes to his art, the benefit of creating outweighs the drawbacks: art is “something that’s always been there” for him and a practice that he comes back to time and time again. Creating, especially when he creates for himself and not for others, “brings comfort.”

In the future, August sees himself pursuing art in college, perhaps with a focus on creating characters for video games or tattoo artistry. He is also considering melding his interest in visual arts with computer science, which he enjoys. His family has been very supportive of his artwork; although he doesn’t often show his work to them, they gift him sketchbooks and other art supplies for his use.

August has noticed a key difference in his artistry after completing MTAC: “I feel like I can really get somewhere with my art now,” he shared. The program expanded his understanding of what jobs and industries are available in the arts, especially for illustrators and publishers. Even if he doesn’t pursue the arts, he found that MTAC improved his confidence; the program confirmed that, regardless of the field, he “can do anything.”

]]><![CDATA[Liliana Awal]]>Fri, 08 May 2026 13:09:31 GMThttps://www.colorizationcollective.org/blog/liliana-awal

Artwork by Liliana Awal.

By Nickole Munoz and Anya Shukla

Liliana joined the MTAC in-person visual arts cohort as an incoming freshman in high school. Throughout the program, they worked with their mentor, Luna, to develop several pieces related to their identity and personal experiences. Liliana is a self-taught artist who has always enjoyed art and crafting—they enjoy the process of turning an object that appears like garbage into something beautiful. For example, they once decorated a container lid with a hot glue gun to create a “3D collage” effect. However, they have not had access to art classes or supplies in the past and enjoyed having a space through MTAC to focus on creating.

In our interview, they described several paintings they created during MTAC. One honored their mother—they included rose petals from their mom’s memorial and painting scraps to represent not wanting to let go. In another, she created a stylized representation of herself surrounded by red eyes and a rainbow background. The eyes represent people with negative emotions, and the rainbow colors represent the world. This piece represents how “the world is not as bad as I think.” Liliana loves the joy they feel from seeing a piece they finished and is excited to continue making art. Art makes them “feel welcome in a world that doesn’t always welcome” them.

Liliana hopes to explore queer identity through their artwork in the future. They hope that their paintings are “seen and known by other people who are like me.” They acknowledge that many people do not feel comfortable in their identity—at first, “I did not feel comfortable in my identity,” they shared—and so they hope seeing their paintings make other kids and teens feel safe and represented. They also take inspiration from queer representation in media, such as Bow from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. Bow, a Black queer character, is “resilient” and “hardworking,” Liliana shares. “If he can do it, then I feel like I can try.”

In the future, Liliana sees themselves exploring not only visual arts, but hairstyling. Although seemingly distinct, both mediums have similarities: they require a steady hand, attention to detail, and ability to visualize the end product. Liliana has always loved doing hair for themselves and their little sister, and they hope to continue exploring that passion. We are excited to see what they do next!

]]><![CDATA["Prologue to Chrysalis": Ashley Catalan]]>Thu, 07 May 2026 02:22:13 GMThttps://www.colorizationcollective.org/blog/prologue-to-chrysalis-ashley-catalanAs her husband's cold fingertips caress her face, all she could think of is the green leaves from the tree branches of her childhood backyard. A sight she burned into her eyes as the leaves danced with the wind, whispering into her ears, calling her into the woods. She can taste the faint iron in her mouth, and the wind is starting to turn sharply into the west, pointing to the sun, where it hid behind the ocean and the sacred door that protected her people from the outside.

She sat criss-crossed on the grass, her rose-pink party dress getting wet from the recent sprinklers. Her thoughts and dreams were too big to fit into her nature journal, years' worth of sketches, trees, and plants, that could never be enough for what she needed.

The trees start to smudge, focused lines slowly mixing into one another, an image she always could see clear as day becoming a memory.

Excerpt from "Prologue to Chrysalis" by Ashley Catalan

By Anya Shukla

Ashley is a self-taught writer who moved from Nevada to California to attend Chapman College. The arts are integral to her life and college experience: at Chapman, she majors in Music Education and minors in English. She has always enjoyed expressing herself artistically; nothing else gives her the same feeling that art does. Although Ashley plans to work in music in the future, she joined MTAC as a way to further build and explore her passion for writing.

As part of MTAC, Ashley worked on a prologue for a novel called Chrysalis. Her book is set in a quasi-apocalyptic future: America has been exposed to radiation due to nuclear bombs and the population now lives in “safety domes.” She took inspiration from other novels, such as The Hunger Games, to write her own brave and courageous protagonist, Margaret, who is “completely taken out of her safe zone.” Her prologue centers on the aftermath of a difficult birth, where Margaret suffered a seizure during delivery. Ashley’s vivid imagery and attention to detail invite the reader into the world she has created and leaves them on the edge of their seat, wondering what will happen next.

Ashley finds that the media tend to flatten identities instead of exploring what makes characters unique. For this reason, she sees value in diverse representation and intentional storytelling. In her piece, which is set in the 1950s, she notes that “women aren’t really seen as people.” In the modern day, women are portrayed as powerful superheroes; she doesn’t see much in-between. Ashley grew up feeling both “tomboyish” and “feminine” and so wanted her character to explore multiple aspects of the female identity; throughout Chrysalis, Margaret tries to figure out who she is besides being a mother.

Ashley often struggles with comparing her work to others. She sometimes feels her characters appear “flat” (after reading Ashley’s work, I would say this is not the case!) and is working on writing characters’ emotions in a way that feels authentic and engaging. However, she recognizes that she needs to overcome doubt and continue creating in order to better her skills. One of her artistic goals is to create more work for herself and embrace the personal satisfaction that comes with producing a piece that is up to her own standards. Ashley encourages emerging artists to do the same. She advises other young writers to “not be scared” and push themselves to continue improving.

]]><![CDATA["Low": Olivia Frieson]]>Thu, 30 Apr 2026 15:30:00 GMThttps://www.colorizationcollective.org/blog/low-olivia-frieson

By Anya Shukla

Tacoma native Olivia has been immersed in the arts ever since an early age. She grew up in a family of performers: her aunt is a ballerina and her uncle is the famous bass player Oseama Afifi. It is no surprise then that she enjoys performing as well; she started singing when she was six, has been dancing for ten years, has played the alto saxophone since sixth grade, and is starting to learn the bass. Olivia has a wide-ranging appreciation of various genres, from heavy metal to Japanese city pop. She enjoys not just playing music but also creating her own pieces. She has participated in Seattle Theatre Group’s Songwriting Lab, a week-long songwriting workshop that she credits with providing her with connections and friends to bounce ideas off of. Olivia hopes to be a performing artist in the future with the goal of living in New York City.

Olivia tends to write songs through a collaborative process. Once she has a rough idea and instrumentation, she works with her friends to form the melody and lyrics. In addition to the community she has found through the Songwriting Lab and The CC, she also writes songs with her band, The Drama Queens.

Olivia wrote her song “Low” in two days (!) as part of The CC’s MTAC program. One of her favorite parts of songwriting is the chance to tell stories through her lyrics, and this particular song is about a toxic relationship; the song’s instrumentation and lyrics lead the listener to a powerful bridge, where Olivia rants about how she wants the song’s subject back. Through her songwriting, she tries to highlight that “just because you are Black doesn’t mean you have to rap. You can be Black and do anything, and you can write indie and rock” music.

Participating in The CC’s MTAC program allowed Olivia to learn more about what the performing arts industry was like as a BIPOC artist and connect with BIPOC professionals in the field. Her fellow mentees and her mentor, UJ Mangune, pushed her to think more critically about what art meant to her; they “opened my eyes” to different experiences, she said. She also learned about other avenues to becoming a performer, such as creating music as an independent artist, and realized that she doesn’t have to follow a particular path to reach her goals.

Olivia values the performing arts because of the field’s focus on storytelling. She finds inspiration in anime and animated movies, such as Princess and the Frog, because they showed her what was possible: seeing Princess Tiana owning a business, for example, helped her see that she could do that in the future. She also values art because of its authenticity. Behind each lyric, behind each movement, there is a feeling that will resonate with an audience member. “When you are telling your story,” she said, “you are telling a truth.”

]]><![CDATA[The Green Lake Scene: Tamara Abouammo]]>Tue, 28 Apr 2026 22:56:30 GMThttps://www.colorizationcollective.org/blog/the-green-lake-scene-tamara-abouammo

"City and Soul" by Tamara Abouammo

By Nickole Munoz

Tamara is an Arab-American, self-taught, multi-media artist who has put deep thought into her journey as an artist while only being a freshman in high school. Residing in downtown Seattle, she enjoys taking advantage of Green Lake’s scenery, where she based her most recent project with The Colorization Collective (The CC). At the Green Lake scene, there has been a flash of personal touch to every piece: Tamara uses her camera lens to capture the world. This scene replicates one from years ago when Tamara would watch her brother take passport photos or her aunt make jewelry. As inspiration, she recalls an abundance of stories of her paternal grandma, a popular Egyptian singer whose essence influences Tamara’s multifaceted streams of creativity. Her grandma’s artistic ability translated into musicians and jewelry makers on her mother’s side of the family.

To begin her most recent piece without knowing exactly where it goes is a unique experience for Tamara given that her mind tends to trap her into perfectionism. However, this is actually one of the very things Tamara has worked on since she joined The CC. She makes a great effort to take full advantage of brain-dump sessions in the mornings—not getting hung up on the details since these brain dumps are not submitted for the mentorship program.

Tamara visualizes herself working in the film industry in the future. She wants to make short films on being Arab American or being Muslim in America. Tamara’s goal would be to normalize the presence of diverse identities in film without falling into stereotypes. She says Seattle feels more progressive than other places and the art community was much more welcoming, allowing a better landscape of potential opportunities to be available and pursued. She perceives her art to be more than an outlet: a way of improving or building something.

During her time as a mentee with The CC, she learned a different approach to workshopping ideas by writing imperfect thoughts in the morning alongside all the other mentees. She tends to find it challenging to capture her exact thoughts and feelings in a rigid manner. Instead, brainstorming allows her to create what she feels best suits the waves that wash over her mind. Tamara clearly exemplifies how her creativity has allowed her to not be trapped in a box—and how The CC has pushed her to take a more personal approach to her pieces. Thus, she has taken the initiative to make a collage that incorporates aspects of nature—connecting back to her love of Green Lake.

Through a fog of challenge with expressing emotions, her camera and paintbrush have been the items that have helped her focus and have control over what she produces. We are excited to see what she does next!

]]><![CDATA[Kaiser Louis Makes Art for Himself]]>Tue, 28 Feb 2023 19:36:45 GMThttps://www.colorizationcollective.org/blog/kaiser-louis-makes-art-for-himself

By Anya Shukla and Dilinna Ugochukwu

Kaiser Louis sees his artwork as a way to honor his family lineage. Louis, the son of a first-generation Haitian immigrant, uses art to explore his family’s immigration and reflect on his personal experiences. What does it mean, Louis asks through his pieces, to speak French, English, and Creole but have never visited Haiti? In what ways am I connected to my heritage, and in what ways am I separated?

He expresses these dichotomies through collage: taking photos, modifying them slightly in Photoshop, then adding physical layers of transfer, watercolor, acrylic, and pencil. This time-consuming process adds another dimension to his work: his pieces aren’t going to go away; “they’re not a photograph that can be deleted.” The hours he spends creating artwork is a tribute to his ancestral history. And Louis’ work pays off: his family loves his pieces, sometimes driving two hours to see one of his paintings.

However, Louis did not always use his artwork to explore his personal heritage: “for a long time, my work wasn’t about me. It was just about Black culture.” This focus stemmed from his experience as one of a few Black students in his art-focused middle and high schools.

Louis has attended arts school from a young age. “If I didn’t have those classes and teachers guiding me,” he noted, “my art wouldn’t be what it is today.” (And as his numerous artistic accolades can attest, his art is really, really good today.) Yet growing up, Louis never saw many artists who looked like him. “Everyone we learned about was either dead or an old white person.”

“I didn’t see a lot of representation for Black artists when I was growing up, and a lot of my classmates didn’t either,” Louis said. “But the difference is how it affected me.” In eighth grade, Louis was the only student from his middle school accepted into an arts-focused high school. Although teachers congratulated him, one comment from a peer still sticks in his mind. “A kid said that I only got into that school because I was Black,” Louis recalled. That interaction had a significant impact. “I started to believe what he was saying… I didn’t feel like making artwork anymore.”

After reflecting on that experience, Louis decided to return to art, but with a new purpose. He wanted to use his artwork to bring more representation to Black artists, Black lives, and Black culture. For his AP Portfolio, for example, he made portraits of influential Black people as an exploration of what it means to be Black. However, his drive to represent his heritage carried its own weight: “I felt like I had to promote these stories… it felt like it was another job.” If he had more classmates who looked like him, that might have eased the burden. “I wouldn’t feel like it’s on me to talk about this.”

Now, Louis still remains dedicated to his craft—signing up for competitions and National Portfolio Day, determined to improve his work—but has realized that his art can explore his personal heritage alongside his race. He pushes back against teachers who want his work to be more “urban” and prioritizes his own artistic style.

Louis believes schools and other institutions can combat racial inequity in the arts by opening up conversations and highlighting more voices. Everyone has a different perspective, so there needs to be “an open call: everyone should be invited to have this conversation.” He especially advocates for more diverse judging boards at competitions.

Wherever they are in the artistic journey, Louis wants teens to keep making art, regardless of what other people may say. “At the end of the day, it’s your work. It’s personal to you.” Don’t be swayed by other people’s opinions or feel that you have to stay confined to a certain artistic genre or idea; “don’t make your work for anybody else.”

All image credits to Kaiser Louis.

]]><![CDATA[Adrija Jana Fights for Equity and Equality]]>Sun, 02 Oct 2022 01:53:45 GMThttps://www.colorizationcollective.org/blog/adrija-jana-fights-for-equity-and-equality

Adrija Jana uses their artwork to raise awareness of issues they find important. Photo credit: Adrija Jana.

By Dilinna Ugochukwu

“I thought, I have a real connection with this,” said Adrija Jana (she/they), referring to refugee crises. “Why not take it up? Why not use my voice for these people?” Jana is an interdisciplinary Indian artist and activist who started writing in third grade, and their passion for the arts has only grown since. Now they are also drawn to film and theater, and their films have even been accepted to international film festivals.

Jana’s work carries a distinctive artistic voice, promotes equity and equality, and is often based on real-life social issues or their personal experiences. Their art brings attention to a diverse range of topics such as domestic violence, period poverty, menstrual stigma, cyberbullying, and LGBTQ+ issues, while also highlighting the stories of refugees and immigrants. “These are issues which I’ve been connected to very intimately,” Jana explains. For example, Jana’s maternal grandmother is a refugee, which has greatly informed how they view refugee crises. Jana recalls how their grandmother told them stories about her father escaping from his home country and bringing her with him, as well as the problems they faced over the years. These stories then influence their artwork, particularly when it comes to their films.

Additionally, Jana recalls their own experience with menstrual stigma and lack of proper education. “When I started menstruating in grade five, there was nobody to explain to me properly what was actually happening in my body.” This made them incredibly scared: “I thought I had some kind of serious disease and I would die.” This negative experience helped fuel Jana’s passion for advocating against menstrual stigma and for better menstrual health education, as well as better access to menstrual products.

It’s thanks to their unique life experiences and those of people around them that Jana is able to tackle these problems with sensibility. After several people told their sister not to wear “boy” clothing, Jana wrote a poem about choice, invited the judgmental individuals over for tea, and read the poem to them. Jana could see that this poem had an effect on their audience. “That was the point when I realized that poetry or art is not just words on paper. It actually has the power to help someone.”

As an artist of color, Jana has unfortunately experienced racism when trying to navigate predominantly white art spaces outside of India. Jana recalls attempting to speak at an American art conference. During the interview, they were asked: “being a person of color, why do you think you're worthy of coming here?” They were not asked whether they were qualified, but about how they could prove a person of color deserved to be let into that space. This experience left Jana dumbfounded.

Informed by their own experience with others taking advantage of racial power imbalances, Jana believes “it is important to talk about racial inequality in the arts.” If we do not discuss this topic, people will take advantage of the situation and could end up—intentionally or unintentionally—harming others.

For this reason, Jana wants young artists of color to embrace speaking up. “If you are seeing that something is going on around you that is wrong, that is not correct, or that is something you want to raise your voice against, go ahead.” Even if people disregard BIPOC teens, keep trying to make a difference. As Jana said, "What matters is your voice and not how people take your voice.” By bringing “taboo” ideas out into the open, you can destigmatize important topics. “That itself is something very, very big.”

]]><![CDATA[Zine Issue 2!]]>Sun, 21 Aug 2022 18:47:27 GMThttps://www.colorizationcollective.org/blog/zine-issue-2By popular request, we recently put together a zine featuring writing from our 2022 summer and winter mentorship cohorts. These pieces primarily come from members of our writing cohorts, although all cohorts were welcome to submit work. You can view a digital version of the zine below!

]]><![CDATA[Danielle Nelson Wants BIPOC Youth to Feel Recognized]]>Tue, 12 Jul 2022 22:19:35 GMThttps://www.colorizationcollective.org/blog/danielle-nelson-wants-bipoc-youth-to-feel-recognized

By Dilinna Ugochukwu

As a 15-year-old scuba diver, computer science lover, activist, and environmentalist, Danielle Nelson (they/them) wears many hats. They incorporate several of these interests into their artwork, which features themes of social justice and environmentalism.

Nelson started creating art from a young age and eventually began taking classes in and out of school, which helped them further their talent. Although they are still developing their art style, they aim to “make art that’s memorable… that you think of even after you’ve seen it.” Nelson enjoys playing with light and dark colors to create stark contrasts, as well as incorporating bright eye-catching colors into their pieces. Their art is dramatic, experimental, and expressionist: taking inspiration from one of their favorite artists, Vincent Van Gogh, they put special care in adding texture to their paintings.

“It’s so cool to see my vision come to life” when creating artwork, Nelson says, “and it’s also really exciting to be able to share that vision with other people.” They particularly enjoy using art to share messages and create positive change around topics like sustainability: “I think that there are a lot of problems with the environment that people have created. And I think it's very important that we take ownership [of these issues] and try to make a difference.” One way they have raised awareness of the climate crisis is through a piece depicting the different ways that people engage with water around the world. This painting, which highlighted the unequal access to clean water, won the “We All Rise” Prize as part of the Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Contest.

Nelson also uses their artwork to raise awareness of social justice issues. They enjoy shining “a light on historical figures who have not gotten the recognition they deserve.” For example, they are making a painting of Claudette Colvin, a Black woman who refused to give up her seat to a white woman on a segregated bus when she was 15, and was arrested as punishment. Although Colvin’s arrest happened much earlier than Rosa Parks’, the latter is the person most of us think of when it comes to protesting racially segregated buses. Nelson chose to highlight Colvin because they believe everyone deserves to be recognized for their work

Beyond creating art, Nelson tries to directly support Black artists: “I follow them. I try to promote their videos. I encourage them because I feel like a lot of times Black artists, and POC artists just in general, aren't as celebrated.” Nelson notes that artists of color normally do not reach the same level of fame as their white counterparts. They recalled going on a trip to the Museum of Modern Art and noticing a distinct lack of Black artists. “I think there’s something to gain from having different insights from different cultures and backgrounds,” they said, “because all together you can get a global perspective.” They believe museums and other art institutions should make sure they feature a diverse group of artists so that people of color feel welcomed.

Nelson wants young people to support other artists of color, just as they do, and keep creating, “even when other people tell them not to.” They want BIPOC youth to know that their art is beautiful and worthy of recognition.

]]><![CDATA[BIPOC Book #41: "Freshwater"]]>Wed, 22 Jun 2022 07:00:00 GMThttps://www.colorizationcollective.org/blog/bipoc-book-41-freshwater

In "Freshwater," the main character must reckon with the fact that she is both human and inhuman. Photo credit: Patrick Perkins on Unsplash.

By Anya Shukla

I started an internship this week, and now I’m super tired and have absolutely no will to do anything. So my reading comprehension has taken a bit of a tumble. Apologies if this review feels shorter and/or less… coherent than my previous pieces.

Honestly, not sure how I can ever work a 9-5 job (and also have hobbies) if this feels like such a struggle right now. How does adulting work??

TW: rape, sexual assault.

Review: Ever since birth, it was clear that Ada was different. The main character in Akwaeke Emezi’s “Freshwater,” Ada has auditory hallucinations and struggles with mental health issues throughout her childhood. As she grows up and moves to the United States, she begins to hear more and more voices. These “demons” define her actions for the next part of her life—and actually narrate the majority of her story.

A forward-thinking, novel book, “Freshwater” explores the connection between Igbo spirituality and Western tradition. Despite its uniqueness, the narrative style prevents a reader from fully connecting with the characters. My Rating: 4/5.

What I Loved: Although I have my criticisms (see below), I enjoyed the narrative style. The multiple perspectives add a new texture to the book, a new way of viewing the main character. Hearing directly from Ada’s auditory hallucinations helped me better understand her motivations. (Also, the perspectives are super distinct, which I appreciated as a reader! Each voice feels like their own person.)

Through demons like Asughara*, who emerges after a young boy rapes Ada, I can see the impacts of severe trauma on Ada’s mental health and wellbeing. To cope with the pain of her assault, Ada allows Asughara to take over during sexual encounters—essentially, she disassociates. “Ada wasn’t there anymore,” Asughara says. “There was only me. I expanded and filled up the walls, filling it up and blocking her completely… no matter how hard he pushed into her body, he could definitely never touch her” (pg. 112).

In an interview at the back of “Freshwater,” Emezi writes that they “couldn’t find my own world when I looked for it in books, and though I found other worlds—the ones I’ve lived in, pretended in, moved through—it felt different, but not enough” (pg. 364). They wrote “Freshwater” to create and share their world with readers. The book takes on a semi-autobiographical tone: Emezi draws connections between demon-like spirits and gender dysphoria in their personal life, and these connections echo throughout in “Freshwater.” Like Ada, Emezi sees themselves as “objange” (evil spirits from Igbo culture) and must navigate their in-between-ness.

Through "Freshwater," Emezi also validates non-Western traditions. “It was difficult for me to consider an Igbo spiritual world equally, if not more valid. The legacy of colonialism had always taught us that such a world wasn’t real, that it was nothing but juju and superstition,” Emezi notes in The Cut. In “Freshwater,” Emezi takes that world and legitimizes it, mixing Igbo spirituality with a Western setting.

Especially for marginalized individuals, there is a power in writing and owning your story, one that hasn’t been read before. I hope that “Freshwater” helps others know that someone else out there shares their experiences and struggles, that there is power in cultural traditions, that they can create their own worlds.

What I Didn’t Love: I can’t really put my finger on what I didn’t enjoy.

There was definitely a lot of trauma to take in and hold, which is always difficult for me to process. But I think the narration is what threw me: on the one hand, I enjoyed the narrative style and multiple perspectives; on the other, the narrators disconnected me from the main character and the struggles she faced. Ada’s experiences are all filtered through her demons’ eyes: “the trick, I had realized, was to get Ada to pretend that none of this was happening,” says Asughara (pg. 276).

As I mentioned above, I feel like Emezi saw these kinds of incidents as commentary on disassociation. But because of the distance created by the narration, I didn’t really feel for Ada.

A Quote I Would Like On Goodreads: “It is only a fool who does not know that freedom is paid for in old clotted blood, in fresh reapings of it, in renewed scarifications” (pg. 67-68).

Up next: "There There” by Tommy Orange.

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