The choice is yours. Do you know what it is? Can you see your options, or must you seek them in the abyss? 

My name is Sage, I’m eighteen years old, and a senior at Marina High, wondering where to go next. That is the inspiration behind my piece this year. When you’re growing up, you don’t often know where you’ll find yourself in the future. What decisions will you make to get to that future?  If you have a good support system, especially family, you have an easier time figuring it out. But for those of us who are left lacking in that aspect, it’s common to be constantly wondering what to do, what they’ll order you to choose, how they’ll feel about your path of choice; you’re in the dark.

At some point, you have to find a light, a candle in the darkness that only you can hold. The candle is long, only recently sparked. It will clear a path for you, but only if you point it in the direction of your choice. Its length is no coincidence. A long candle takes more time to burn out. At eighteen years old, this is just a small fraction of the human experience, the lifespan. There are so many choices you can make in your lifetime, and you need to remember they’re yours to make. Not your parents. Not your significant others. Not your friends. You. 

A big role in my artwork is my art teacher, Jen Shayani. She’s been (and continues to be) a major part of my journey, considering the four consecutive years I’ve taken her class. Back in 2025, when the last FTLOA was held, I very vividly remember making a piece that didn’t quite inspire much thought. I was disappointed watching it all go by. It struck a chord I never knew I had. And then another contest happened, this time in my own school. Lost again. That’s when Ms. Shayani gave me an eye-opening word of advice. I need to find my art style. To find myself. Choose a consistent medium, a unique identifier. Make. A. Choice. When you know what you’re doing, others can see it. They can see the confidence in every brush stroke, the assurance in every smudge. 

For this piece, I chose to use acrylic paint because I still had some left over from last year’s entry. It took me about two weeks to make, since I kept it at school. I don’t usually paint at home because I work four out of the seven days of the week. The process was rather difficult. I learned how to paint candlelight for the first time, as well as facial anatomy and perspective. A difficult part about self-portraits is that it makes you super self-aware about your every feature. Like, wow, I look like that? I go outside and look… like that? Painting myself feels like discovering a new species, a rebrand of homo-sapien with asymmetrical lips and dark circles that can be found in your local Michaels craft store, perusing and not buying. But that’s not the feeling in the actual painting itself. I want to make the viewer feel a sense of unease, curiosity, and hope. The same feelings are part of the experience that inspired it. 

To anyone in my shoes, whether you’re young, mixed, working to feed your family, or unsure of what direction your life is heading, I leave you with this: you won’t leave the darkness until you answer the burning question… Will you find that light and point it in the direction of your choice? Will you choose the freedom of the unknown over the complacency of the familiar?