1 My-Sight
My eyes see the world as if it is a painting by Monet. I think of the limits imposed by my disability as a lens that transforms the universe into an abstract canvas. One person’s disease is another’s pretext for an artistic vision.
Visions of You
Since childhood, I literally saw the world differently, and thanks to my wandering eye, it saw me differently too.
In 2021, my best friend and roommate Olohiye Ehimiaghe died at the age of 18, accidentally killed by a stray bullet the day before her first day at Yale. I sought an artistic way to honor her by creating an elongated eyeball due to my amblyopia, with her smile reflected in the pupil. Truly, she is with me still, reminding me that I am always enough.
Acrylic paper clay collage; 100cmX62cm; 2024
Reflections
Installation; 35cmX30cmX55cm; 2024
Everywhere we look, there are differences in wealth, power, and status, the raw materials of impersonal hierarchy with no regard to character: after all, even a brutal fool can be rich, strong, and famous. In this work, I explored unfair treatment directed against individuals or social groups. Those standing in the middle are oppressed. Below are the glaring eyes of prejudice. I want to meet those eyes’ glare with a defiant gaze, just like the pride exuded by my subject here.
The Cruelest Day
Animation; 1 minute 59 seconds; 2023
Dialogue Written and Performed by Elleen; Drawings and Editing by Elleen Cinematography by Dingling (my brilliant friend)
This piece is dedicated to the memory of Rose (Calliope) Wong. The world knew you as a warrior for the rights of transgender students, setting the stage for a national precedent of historic proportions. But to me, you were just like a sister, and your death destroyed a part of my soul. In this animation, I recreate the journey of my almost invisible eye to find the light of the world.