Aniyah — See Me Because

I love animals. I would love to be a traveling vet, or a stationed vet. I think my love for animals started after I watched "Dr. Doolittle." I was so envious because he could speak with animals, and I was jealous, like, "I want to do that.” When I got my first pet, a dog named Joy, we had to give her up because we had to move because the place we were moving to didn't accept dogs. That was a hard part of my life. It was a big punch to my stomach because I used to do everything with this dog. That was one of my first pets that I actually took care of, because I didn't want her to die. We used to take her on walks, she was with me when I learned how to ride my bike, we had a lot of memories together. When I had to give her up, it was so heartbreaking. I know I won't be the first black veterinarian, but I would love to be known as the person who you can call to help with animal problems.

I would describe my art as experimental. I really like making characters and I design outfits in my free time. In all my art pieces, you will always find a piece of myself– whether it’s my favorite color, object, my persona, or something that identifies me. Right now, I'm working on my own comic but I have to learn how to storyboard so my story makes sense. I’m going to be honest: it gives me a headache. Not only does it give me a headache, it gives me this sense of responsibility and control since I'm the head of everything– I'm the one creating it, I'm the one distributing it, so the whole world can see. I’m also the one selling it so I can make people happy with my art– it gives me a sense of pride. I have to break through my troubles, I have to break through the hard parts to get to the good. Good work is never easy. If you want something to come out good, you have to work for it. Art is hard. I have a love/hate relationship with art.

I want to work for Disney. I want to help work on a movie, I want to see my name at the end of the credits, saying I did most of the animation. I feel that it would give me power– motivation. I actually started out with animation, thinking I could just hop right in. I dropped it so fast, I'm like, “Let's learn how to draw first before we animate.” So I learned how to draw. We never really stop learning about stuff, we always learn something new. Going back to my dream, I want to inspire kids, to give art lessons to kids who want to learn how to do art. If you have a dream, you can go out there and do it. I would just love to receive and give back.

My portrait concept is about a painter who is not only a painter but is in love with animals and will do anything they can to save animals. I want to show my emotions for the animals and how serious I am to achieve this dream to reach out to people. I wanted to show in my painting that being an artist and a painter isn't about being perfect and clean. It's about being messy and getting to make mistakes. I am a person who enjoys animals and their craft and will do anything to keep her aspirations alive.

Milwaukee, 2023