Hannah — See Me Because

I want to do everything. I think it helps us as artists to let people know - it feels better - that I am not just one thing. I want people to understand that you don't have to stick to one thing ever. You can always change your mind and do something else, or do more than one thing. I hope people will see that I can do whatever I want, especially in terms of my art and interests.

I grew up in a family with a lot of artists, and I went to a school where we did a lot of art. We were a community, and we all were doing art together. Art was always a way for me to get to know someone or to interact with somebody. I grew up watching anime and it's really important to me. I listen to music a lot. I like to read things - that makes me who I am and why I’m an artist now. My art took me to places, like where there's just a bunch of kids and adults doing art, so I met people or tried to make friends through art. I still use art to show people what I feel or who I am without really having to say it - my art says that for me. I want to say it's like all past, present and future. That’s kind of what I want my future to look like.

I just want to be myself and try not to worry about how other people might perceive me. I want others to see me as someone who is confident in what they do. I hope my energy is happy and creative and can inspire other people when they see me, to be creative. I hope people don't hold themselves back when it comes to things that they just want to do. Like if you just want to explore something, you should just explore it.

I love clothing and I love fashion, so I just want to be surrounded by that forever if I can. My dream is to study fashion abroad. I want to go somewhere where fashion is interesting and study by observing and looking at it, without having to deal with going to school, paying for it and everything. I want to be walking around experiencing the cultures, the fashion and taking part in it. I could study street fashion in Japan from here, but I want to be there and experience it firsthand. I want to wear the clothes and meet people who design the clothes - I want to participate. The idea of it makes me happy so I feel that doing it would make me happy too.

I want to have my own brand and store. But it won’t be just clothing, I want to sell art or sell whatever I want. I want my own place where I can do what I want, selling stuff and creating things. I've always wanted to have my own store. This is something between me and my uncle. He is always trying to come up with something, a new restaurant or store. And I've always been a part of that by giving him ideas, and it branched into, “I want my own store!” I want a career or to be involved in the fashion industry when I'm older, and the artists industry as a whole basically. I want to surround myself with fashion and I will do fashion in the future.

Milwaukee, 2023