Zainab Adil's Artist of the Year 2022 Portfolio

Since this article highlights the racial discrimination faced by Asians during the COVID-19 pandemic, I drew two Asian people being taunted at by a huge pointing finger, which signifies and blame that has put on them by society in the past two years. I made the hand extremely large, having it cut through the article, to truly signify to the readers the impact of the blame. I also utilised contrasting colours by having the people wear orange, and the hand be a bright blue, to make the image more striking and powerful.

In this illustration, I drew a famous moment in sports history: Muhammad Ali vs Sonny Liston II. Since Ali is mentioned and praised for his social justice related work in the article, I created an illustration of an event which reminds readers’ of his excellence, both athletic and social. The event is incredibly well known, allowing readers to see the image and be drawn in to the article.

In this illustration, I wanted to depict the internal struggle someone who is transgender may feel, as the article is about transgender and non-binary students. Thus, I drew a girl looking in a mirror and seeing herself as a boy. The illustration is clear, to the point, and powerful.

As the article is about injustice and racism within the art world, I decided to depict a famous white male artist, Vincent Van Gogh, looking down at well-known art by people of colour, such as Frida Kahlo, and Kehinde Wiley. Overall, I depicted the main idea of the article, which is racism in the art world, in a creative and visually appealing way which relates to the subject matter of the article.

Since the article features opinions and stories from alums of our school in a similar fashion to a Seventeen article which used those same alums as sources back when they were in high school, I attempted to highlight the contrast between the two articles in my illustration. The black and white magazines between the Seventeen magazine and the Standard newspaper represent the time that has passed between the publications of each article, as the alums reflected on how our school affected their lives during this time. Thus, through my illustration, I depicted a comparison of the two articles, representing the way in which the the alums in the article look back at their time in high school.