Shadow Box
Velvet Eligio
When people look at me, they see a Latina girl, with brown eyes, black hair, and they assume that I enjoy anything related to Mexico because many other Latina/os enjoy Mexican activity or because that’s the popularity, but I see myself as an independent girl who loves music, drawing, and being silly. What my shadow box represents is that the two flags that I have inside are the Mexico and USA flag. What that means is that I am Latina and I am proud being Latina. But, my nationality is American. Something else in my shadow box is a pencil because that represents that I love drawing and I have always enjoyed drawing, drawing is my passion and I wanna become a better artist as I grow. What I also have in my shadow box is the words Oakland because I have lived in Oakland my whole life and I guess I could call it home. I grew up in Oakland and if I go on a trip or somewhere else and I finally come back to Oakland it feels like home. I also have a bracelet from Mexico because that was the time I went to Mexico for the first time and I wanna remember and have something to remember of Mexico. In my shadow box I have the YouTube logo because I enjoy watching videos, I could spend a whole day just on YouTube without getting bored because there are many different kinds of videos I could watch, I also enjoy watching videos from people I love. I have a bracelet or necklace with a cross and that represents I am religious and that I am Catholic.
Dear Velvet,
I am impressed by your piece of writing “What My Shadow Box Says About Me” because your words are very powerful which is helping cancel out the stereotypes people have about you. One sentence you wrote that stands out for me is “When people look at me, they see a Latina girl, with brown eyes, black hair”. I think this is a stereotype many other girls like myself go through and the fact that you brought this up and tried to shut it out is a very strong and powerful thing to do.
Dear Velvet,
I am excited by your ¨Shadow Box¨ because I like the way you organized it.As well, that everything you put in your shadow box has a real meaning to it and I think thats good.One part of your shadow box that stands out to me is that you put a pencil inside your shadow box something so basic but you added a real meaning to it.I think that is not something anyone can do.Another part that I liked is where you use the cross to show that you are religious in a way.Your shadow box reminds me of what we are doing in class which is the same exact thing our shadow boxes.As well the things you used gave me new ideas on how I can improve my own shadow box.Thanks for your work of art your shadow box.I look forward to seeing what you make next,because I like how your good at describing at everything that is in your shadow box.Also,you are very creative with it.
Hello velvet, my name is Bryan and I attend Fremont HIgh School where I did the same project. A question I have are you religious? I like they way you organized your box
Hello Bryan, yes you could say that I am religious I am catholic and thank you.
can i just say, I LOVE YOUR PROFILE PHOTO; TOKYO GHOUL AND BTS AHHHHHHHH YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH I SQUEALED ?. this is probably one of the posts that made me laugh. your post was pretty entertaining and nice to read. the explanation of your story of your shadowbox, i can make many connections with them. especially when you mention watching youtube and drawing, its also a lifestyle of mine ? its so cool to relate to someone so much.
before you made your shadowbox, what inspired you to write your story?
did writing the story out in public make you feel more comfortable?
if you enjoy drawing, do you draw anything that is important to you (like family, friends, etc)?
i appreciate your writing, it came out strong and full of life. it was inviting and very sweet. and i hope your art career carries on farther than mine lol. i look forward to any more of you interesting stories on your blog ?.
Thank you! ? ~ I can see that you are a fangirl about anime and kpop for sure, and ARMY! I wasn’t really inspired by anything to write this, It was a school project and we had to write down what we had in our shadowboxes and what it represented from us. Mmm I’m not sure how I felt writing my story in public. I don’t really raw anything important I just draw whatever I want to draw for example anime.
First, your profile picture is amazing, and so is your cover photo. Second I love your shadow box. I like how you represent yourself with your heritage, but you show there’s more to you than that. I also love to draw, so I connect to that really well. I spend every day trying to work on my skills, and improve. One day I hope it goes farther than just simple doodles. (A tip for people art (I’m not sure what you like to draw): Anatomy and posing is a very good thing to practice and work on. A great posing reference site is Posemaniac.com and just looking up anatomy and posing references and hitting images is a great resource as well.)
Thank you! ? also thank you for the tip. I also hope that you do get furtherr in drawing than doodles.
Dear Velvet,
While reading your artist statement I got a feeling of joy because I felt that your words really made me feel happy. I like how much pride and love you have for yourself. I felt happy to read that. One line that stood out to me was, “I have a bracelet or necklace with a cross and that represents I am religious and that I am Catholic.” I think this is very interesting. Knowing you personally I never knew this about you. I’m also amazed that you added your religion showing your pride for that as well. Another sentence that I saw was, “ I grew up in Oakland and if I go on a trip or somewhere else and I finally come back to Oakland it feels like home”. This stood out to me because how aweing I thought this was. I think it’s very sweet to love a community that gets bashed a lot so much because it’s your home. Your post reminds me of myself in a way. I have a story that matches with your travel. You see I also traveled to mexico and brought it in as an object for my shadow box. I used it to show some of my identity so I think it’s cool we both did this similar. Thanks for your writing. I look forward to seeing what you have to right next, because I see you have interesting stories I’d like to see more of. I also think your stories are sweet and give a great tone.