Hi, my name is Naz and I'm a 17 year old artist from Turkey. I've been at YAC for about 6 months. I've been painting since I was little, always picking up the brush when I'm hurt or felt misunderstood, even leaving class so I can go paint. When I was in elementary school, my studio became my safe place, but as quarantine hit, it sadly had to be closed down. So as I grew up, my love for painting began to fade. I've gone years without painting, without creating something I'm truly proud of, but eventually, my friends and my mentors helped me rediscover my love for art.

"A Light that Still Shines" is about rediscovering myself after leaving my hometown, after growing up in the city, close to all my family and friends, coming to a new country and a completely different environment after my sophomore year. This made me feel like I've lost myself in between. Having to say goodbye to memories and my old self, I had become a person I didn't even recognize. I was at a place where no one could really pronounce my name or know who I truly am. Feeling like I had no place to go, I had closed myself off completely. I didn't know the meaning of home anymore, constantly homesick, looking at old pictures, trying to see similarities; but it's hard when 'home' is thousands of miles away, and just seeing my family took 18 hours. I had to deal with the heartbreak of not being there to see my little brother grow up, to celebrate his achievements, to play soccer with him, and to have to leave him alone on Sunday breakfasts.

After being away for so long, I realised home is within me, in my love and my community; which I symbolized by the beam of light coming from my heart, while I'm cherishing it. I also wanted this painting to be my first self portrait in years. The tulips (or lale) in the background were inspired by an art form called marbling, or 'ebru' as we call it. Ebru was one of my favorite art mediums when I was younger, and I chose to paint tulips because of their close relation to Turkish culture. Tulips were grown in gardens in the Ottoman Empire and later brought to the west. So while my painting is about goodbyes and new beginnings, it also quietly symbolizes my longing and is full of little symbols that remind me of home.