Boundless

Happiness, joy, excitement, these feelings bring people together like no other. Creating this piece, I knew I wanted to represent the different meanings of happiness in a variety of cultures across the world and bring together all their definitions of happiness together on one canvas. I represented how happiness has no limits by including different elements of happiness from cultures around the world, hence the title of my piece, “Boundless”. The smile, being the focal point of the piece, is the globally recognized symbol of happiness. The Sunflowers represent happiness in the global west and the dragonfly is a representation of happiness in Native American culture. Butterflies are another widely known symbol of growth and happiness, as are stars and music. I worked to bring together this wide variety of symbols together in one cohesive piece, just as the feeling of joy brings different cultures together. I made sure to use colours that are known to spark joy, like bright pinks, blues and yellows. To ensure my piece accurately conveyed my message, I set no limitations on myself in terms of the mediums I used and incorporated all sorts of mediums like gouache, water colours, acrylic paint, spray paint and more. I spent about a month working on this piece and am proud of how it conveys a strong message, not through words, but through colour.