Convalescent

Created by Sophia Zhan



"My artwork Convalescent preserves the stories my grandmother, an herbal healer, peasant farmer, and devoted mother, is losing to dementia. She lifted our family from peasant fields to education, but was denied the fruition of her sacrifices after suffering a stroke. Her life mirrors many Asian American elders, whose labor quietly built futures they never inhabited. Nonetheless, her perseverance inspired my leap from public school to Phillips Academy, where I belong through resilience, not pedigree. Her inheritance of blood, sweat, and NO tears drives my goal of fusing art and biomedical engineering to preserve every grandmother’s memory, including my own."