By Rosalind Tran & Annie Hoang
Social Media Editor & Staff Writer
PHOTO COURTESY/ Megan Kho, Chelsea Ling & Jillian Valdez
Women’s History Month sparked discussions of female empowerment, as well as racial and gender inequalities. Clubs TCHS Amnesty Youth and TCHS Dream Equal collaborated to speak out and inform the community on those topics through illustrations, choreography, poetry and other art forms. Volunteers filmed themselves and showcased their individual artwork through a collective collage in a video project.
“Since Amnesty focuses on activism, we wanted to expand our purpose in more creative ways other than simply signing petitions or sending emails,” junior Jasmine Lam said. “I like how this project is more engaging and interactive, since we’re finding abstract ways to convey our opinions and thoughts.”
Three students share their perspectives on equality and participation in the project.
Megan Kho
Junior Megan Kho gently swirled her brush in watercolor, careful to paint within the lines as blotches of black, brown and tan bloomed from the tip of her brush.
To begin her outline, Kho sketched three raised fists at the center of the page as a symbol of power. Encouraging quotes from women such as Emma Watson, Michelle Obama, Eleanor Roosevelt and Ruth Bader Ginsberg stretched across the background.
Kho placed a strong emphasis on the varying skin tones on the raised fists to clearly convey her message about women of color standing in solidarity with one another.
“Women’s equality is advocating for all women,” Kho said. “Race should not play a factor in this movement. Women’s inequality is already a big issue, but racial inequality on top of that just makes it worse. Especially during Women’s History Month, it’s important that we also support women of color.”
Chelsea Ling
As the accented handclaps and heavy bass echo through the speakers, junior Chelsea Ling bursts into a series of tilts, spinning leaps and hair whips to match the upbeat energy of the song “BO$$” by Fifth Harmony. Her powerful movements complement the strong beats and instrumentation of the jazzy hip-hop number.
“I chose this song because I think it’s very successful in terms of empowering women so I thought it fit the objective of this project well,” Ling said. “My favorite part of my dance would have to be when I put my hands up resembling a crown. It symbolizes the power that anyone can have and that everyone deserves respect.”
For the last 13 years, Ling developed a deep passion for dancing. At the age of three, she practiced Chinese traditional dancing, but as she grew older, she learned to dance to jazz, hip-hop, modern and more. Currently, Ling performs for Choreo and varsity Song.
Jillian Valdez
As the scent of acrylic paint drifts across her room, junior Jillian Valdez strokes her cardstock paper down the middle with a radiant streak of red paint to highlight the disparity between men’s and women’s rights.
With the help of her older sister, Valdez depicted two halves of society, the left side showing half of a man’s face and the right, half of a woman’s face, separated by a red barrier. While white paint surrounds the man, black paint surrounds the woman, representing the dark and difficult journey women took to receive similar rights to men. Although March is dedicated to Women’s History Month, Valdez expresses how all genders deserve equal rights.
“Men were born with rights,” Valdez said. “Women and nonbinary genders had to fight and demand equal rights. I decided to conjoin the two faces in the painting because at the end of the day, all of us are human and deserve to be treated equally.”