These are a painting series of my niece, Aida, whom I believe brings something special to me. Personally, I don’t like kids; but my attitude changes after she was born. Even before Aida was born, my parents were buying toys and clothes for her, lots of them, that some weeks after her birth, they no longer fit her. I have to admit that I was once jealous of the attention that she received, yet I was able to cope with it. During these past few years, I’ve been changing my mind whether I should adore her or not, but it ended up that yes, I do love her. Whenever I travel or go somewhere and see toys, I really want to buy them for Aida. However, the one thing that stops me from it is that she seems to be very fussy about choosing her toys and seems to get bored of them easily. One thing that I’ve seen from watching Aida is that she loves things that are not hers, like my toys, and things she find enjoyable. One thing that she has been playing in my house for weeks is a cardboard box; it was meant to be thrown away, and it inspires this piece.

 

Children, as most adults see, are someone that always need something to keep them entertained. One thing that adults do to kids is buying them an abundance of toys. Still, those toys can keep them entertained for a few days and they would get over it. I realize that buying too much toys will teach them that they have lots of things and it is ok to throw and leave them, and ask for a new one. With Aida, yes, this often happens. An interesting thing about kids I observe is that they often play with simple toys. In Aida’s case, it is a cardboard box. My point is, adults don’t understand that kids are very simple, but adults tend to think more like buying lots of toys than limiting them to only one. This can teach them to learn that things are actually valuable. For this project, I represent Aida in terms of her aura colors that represent her and her emotions while playing in the box. Turquoise blue is a highly energized color—just like my niece’s personality—pink means love, and yellow symbolizes inner joy. These are the emotions that show through her faces and how much she enjoys playing in the box.