Mackenzie Boolbol
My Australian Meaning
Greenwich High School, Greenwich Connecticut
12th grade, 17 years old

Identity is what makes up our own personal characteristics and personality. It’s what makes us different and gives us a story to share.
$25

Baker Charbonnet
Words Lose Weight
Rye Country Day School, Rye, NY
12th Grade, 18 years old

As a woman with ADHD, I suppressed my identity for a lot of my life because when I did not, I was reduced to the labels written on the painting. Once I grew to love myself, both for the labels put on me and the ones I chose for myself, I found that I was truly happy with myself and my identity.

Shannon Martin
I Don’t Understand This
Greens Farms Academy, Westport, CT
10th Grade, 15 years old

To me, Identity means the way you represent yourself to other people or at different places.

Kylie Finkelstein
Greenwich High School
Bound Together
Greenwich, CT
12th Grade, 17 years old

To me, Identity means my family and my religion that help to shape who I am.

Valentina Rivano
My Great-Grandpa and his Newspaper
Greenwich High School, Greenwich, Connecticut
11th Grade, 16 years old

Identity means to me what comes from the past; we absorb characteristics from all our family members that make us who we are. Reflecting on the past and thinking about family can tell us a lot about who we are in the present.
$100

Erin Mann
African American Hair identity
Greenwich High School, Greenwich, CT
11th grade, 16 years old

Identity to me means what defines us as people.
$100

Emely Cervantes
Cardboard Converse
Port Chester High School, Port Chester, NY
11th grade, 16 years old

Delmi Salinas
Cardboard High Heel
Port Chester High School, Port Chester, NY
11th grade, 16 years old

Astrid Rodrigues
Cardboard Platform Loafer
Port Chester High School, Port Chester, NY
10th grade, 15 years old

Identity is what makes up our own personal characteristics and personality. It’s what makes us different and gives us a story to share.
$25

Charlotte Watson
Together
Denzel Washington School of the Arts, Mount Vernon, NY
9th Grade, 14 years old

Identity to me is knowing yourself. Knowing what you like, what you excel in, what ethnic, religious, and other groups you are a part of. Aside from yourself, people that know the real you, and support you, are a part of who you are.

Emily Beggs
With Barbie, You Can Be Anything!
Fairfield Ludlowe High School, Fairfield, CT
Grade 12, 17 years old

Identity to me has a lot to do with what adults tell you about yourself as you grow up.

Darcy Alder
Plugged In
Edwin O. Smith High School, Storrs, Mansfield CT
Grade 11, 16 years old

To me, identity changes with the times, and the current generation’s identity is influenced by the internet and social media..

Sophia Greco
Touch Identity
Pelham Memorial High School, Pelham, NY
9th Grade, 14 years old

Identity to me means to identify oneself. There are many ways a person can be identified and the future of identity is Biometrics. This technology is used for identification and access control. We now identify ourselves using the touch ID print which is our computer DNA.

Sophia Minogue
Built for Uniqueness
Fairfield Warde High School, Fairfield, CT
11th Grade, 16 years old

To me, identity is the memories, people, and experiences that build us into the unique people we are. Our identity is what breathes life into the artwork we create and make our artwork solely ours.

Abby Della Valle
Inside Out
Staples High School, Westport, CT
11th grade, 16 years old

To me, identity is how you see yourself, your passions, and the things that make you yourself. This piece was created to represent the feeling of that being taken away at a young age.

Dereje Tarrant
See Me
Pierrepont School, Westport, CT
9th grade, 15 years old

My painting tells the story of me growing up and figuring out who I
am, all the parts of my identity that I know and the parts I’ve yet to
discover. It’s me a few years from now breaking out of society’s
expectations and limitations. It’s me saying: “See me. See all of me.”

Merel Kanter
Girls Night Out
Staples High School, Westport, CT
12th grade, 17 years old

To me, identity is a mix of what you’re born into and the choices you make following. Memories and circumstances combine to create an individual identity.

Ayaan Olasewere
Living Life Through The Lens of My Swim Goggles
Staples High School, Westport, CT
9th Grade, 14 years old

The beliefs, characteristics, personality, qualities, and the way you think and react to situations make up who you are. Your experiences, relationships, aspirations, values, and interests all play a role in how you view yourself, and in turn are viewed by the world. These two areas make up a person’s identity. Over time new ideas are incorporated into our identity, but our core values often stay the same.
$200

Annam Olasewere
Eat. Sleep. Swim!
Staples High School, Westport, CT
9th Grade, 14 years old

Identity is who you are, it’s your personality, your imagination, what you enjoy, your hopes & dreams, etc. It is everything that makes you – you. Our identity shapes our goals and accomplishments, and our goals and accomplishments shape our identity.
$200

Soroush Rassi
Mind Meld
Pelham Memorial High School, Pelham, NY
10th grade, 15 years old

You are never just one part of your personality, nor are you only characterized by one thing you may like. To me, identity is not about one thing or the other, it is about a multitude of things that make up who you are as a person.

Jack Blitzer
Seen and Unseen
Greens Farms Academy, Westport, CT
10th Grade, Age 15

Whether or not I am seen, I show up in all kinds of weather, steadfast, reliable, and rooted.

Amber Kennedy
Wisteria
Trumbull High School, Trumbull, CT
Grade 11, 17 years old

In my opinion, identity is ever changing with all new life experiences.

Sadie Murphy
Coping With The Very Troubled Child
Pierrepont School, Westport, CT
9th grade, 15 years old

To me, identity is my love for pistachios, a brand new pair of pointe shoes, a filbert paint brush with a bright red handle, a name with hundreds of little quirks and folds hidden beneath it. It is an unanswered question that requires all the eyes in the world to understand and it will never be answered.
$250

Ian Chow
Filling Emptiness
Pierrepont School, Westport, CT
10th grade, 15 years old

For me, my Chinese-American identity means that I am neither completely “Chinese,” nor completely “American.” Since I sometimes feel as if there is some sort of emptiness in my identity, I need to remind myself that there is no such thing as “empty” identity.

Annalena King
Becoming
Harrison High School, Harrison, NY
10th grade, 15 years old

To me, identity means coming into one’s own self, as you recognize and define what your values and beliefs, your interests and needs are. And how you achieve that is by embracing what speaks to you from your roots and heritage but creating your own path away from the aspects that do not resonate with you.

Deniz Nalbantoglu
Alienated
Greens Farms Academy, Westport, CT
9th grade, 14 years old

Identity is my authentic self, not how others may perceive me. This image captures my “alienated-self” during the pandemic.

Kate Lee
Doljabi- My Future
Greenwich High School, Greenwich, CT
12th grade, 17 years old

Identity means an embracement of one’s traits, ethnic and cultural background, likes and dislikes, and successes and failures. My Korean identity has played a vital role in my growth as an individual, one that I make the conscious choice to embrace.

Kyla Haley-Williams
Modern Mona Lisa
Port Chester High School, Port Chester, NY
10th grade, 15 years old

Identity to me means a representation of who you are, and how you express yourself. Identities can change for the better, if you feel a certain way about yourself and figure out something that represents you, and expresses you better.

Kimberly Nicolas
Modern Mona Lisa
Port Chester High School, Port Chester, NY
10th grade, 15 years old

Identity is a feeling of self. It’s what sets you apart from the rest, what make you you. Identity is the clothes you wear, the hair-do you choose and the laugh you make at a funny joke.

Sara Hernandez
Modern Mona Lisa
Port Chester High School, Port Chester, NY
9th grade, 14 years old

Liseth Zaruma
Liseth
Port Chester High School, Port Chester, NY
9th grade, 14 years old

Identity means what type of person you are. Showing yourself, as a person, either in a good way or a bad way.

Lena Zheng
Lena
Port Chester High School, Port Chester, NY
9th grade, 14 years old

Identity means someone’s beliefs and their qualities that are different from others. How they act as a person. Who they are as a person.

Diana Garcia
Diana
Port Chester High School, Port Chester, NY
9th grade, 14 years old

Identity means to me that you have a way for people to know who you are.

Flavia Ferrer
Flavia
Port Chester High School, Port Chester, NY
9th grade, 14 years old

Identity to me means being true to yourself and others. Identity is being able to be confident in yourself and in who you are.

Gianna Salvo
Wandering Mind
Harrison High School, Harrison, NY
10th grade, age 15

Identity to me is what you feel most connected with regarding yourself or the aspects about yourself that you want to portray to others the most.

Rion Yoshimura
Depicted
Harrison High School, Harrison, NY
10th grade,15 years old

To me, Identity is a map of the path you’ve walked, and a treasure you hide.

Ella Cummings
Self
Warde High School, Fairfield, CT
12th grade, 17years old

Identity means to me…. The shedding of all outside influences in one’s head of what you think you should be, to become one’s true self of who you really are.

Manuela Chiele Daumling
Lost
Conard High School, West Hartford, CT
12th grade, 17 years old

My identity is shaped by the environment where I live, the things I experience in life, and the people I have the privilege to meet.

Mia Vindiola
Human Habitat
Staples High School, Westport, CT
11th grade, 16 years old
Identity to me is the person I have become throughout growing up. One thing that has allowed me to do that is my home, and I wanted to capture some of the surroundings that allowed me to become the creative person I am today.

Ava Nicoletti
Coming of Age
Greenwich High School, Greenwich, CT
12th grade, 17 years old

To me, identity is not one thing. Instead, it is made up of the experiences and relationships that make up a person’s sense of self.
$150

Paulina Finz
Remembrance
Greenwich High School, Greenwich CT
12th Grade, 17 years old

To me, identity is an everlasting connection to one’s past.

Luz Ticona
Fade of Mind
Sleepy Hollow High School, Sleepy Hollow, NY
12th grade, 17 years old

Identity means the embodiment of an individual’s state of mind having to do with their emotions and process of expression. Identity could be associated with various factors but in this piece dissociation is part of the identity within the character.

Lilly Weisz
My Name
Staples High School, Westport, CT
11th Grade, 16 years old

Identity is the composition of countless different factors both internal and external, influencing both your outward presentation and your self-perception.

Jennifer von Bartheld
Society on the Teenage Brain
Wilton High School, Wilton, CT
11th Grade, 16 years old

Identity is a construction of everything a person has experienced. Identity is not set in stone; it’s able to change and flow as one wishes. It’s important to respect someone’s identity because it helps us to feel safe and to express ourselves. Respect means that you accept somebody for who they are, even when they’re different from you. Respect in your relationships builds feelings of trust, safety, and wellbeing.

To me, identity means being able to synthesize the multiple facets of your self-perception along with the infinite dimensions reflected within you as a result of your experiences and influences. Identity is not a set definition of self, but rather a reflection of who you are based on what you have experienced and how you choose to interact with the world around you.

Laci Raveis
Self-portraits
Greens Farms Academy, Fairfield, CT
11th grade, 16 years old

To me, the people who you surround yourself with influence you and your identity. There are many different components that go into creating your identity, and it is not solely yourself.

Liyana Asaria-Issa
Khushiali (Self-Portrait)
Greens Farms Academy, Westport, CT
11th grade, 16 years old

For as long as I can remember, my identity as a Muslim has defined me. Mehndi is a large part of my culture and when I have it on, I feel most connected to my roots.

Nancy Duer
Gold Leaf Soul
Greens Farms Academy, Westport, CT
11th grade, 17 years old

Identity is a sense of knowing one’s self and expressing what lives in one’s soul. This was the first time in my life, after having drawn countless self portraits, that I truly captured my own essence; it was something that took passion and the desire to create positive change to find.