Premio Claudia Ann Seaman
Art Gallery
Polyphony Lit publishes not only poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction, but also visual art. Check out our gallery of featured student artists below!
Ayah al-Masyabi
Ayah Al-Masyabi is a 17-year-old junior living in Colorado. She tackles her creative endeavors through writing, visual art, and, more recently, audio and video. Human stories and the narratives around soccer often influence the pieces she crafts. She has been recognized by the Scholastic Arts and Writing Contest as well as NPR. Some of her work can be found on Polyphony Lit, YR Media, and YouthComm. Ayah is an avid Liverpool FC, US Soccer, and Colorado Rapids supporter. She can be found curating her bookshelf, having fun with family and friends, or at @ayahalmart on Instagram and https://ayahart26.wixsite.com/ayahal-masyabi. She also has a YouTube channel where she talks about soccer called AyahSoccer.
Melody Wu
About the Artist
My name is Melody Wu and I'm a junior attending the Orange County School of the Arts. I enjoy exploring themes such as mental health, self-perception, and the COVID-19 pandemic (in countries other than America) in my art through fantasy and surrealism. While I have a ton of favorite art mediums to use- printmaking, ceramics, watercolor, and colored pencils to name a few- the medium that I find myself gravitating toward the most is oil paint.
Artist Statement
"For the past two years or so, I have served as a graphic design editor for the Polyphony Lit magazine. It has been an honor and a wonderful learning experience to contribute to various creative projects as well as work alongside fellow artists and be mentored by Julian Riccobon. One of the most memorable projects I worked on at Polyphony Lit was the “Wake up, the War is Here” blog series, which features stories written by Ukrainian youth. I created several original art pieces and numerous graphics for this blog, in addition to designing many of its earliest posts and editing interview videos. For this series, my inspiration always came, first and foremost, from the written works themselves or in other words, the writers’ stories. My goal was to encapsulate the varying feelings felt by those in the midst of a devastating war—feelings like sadness, fear, dread, guilt, and even hope. I tried to evoke these emotions through the use of color, medium, and imagery. Within the blog, I incorporated real images of the Russia-Ukraine War mixed with drawn graphics, adjusting color and light as needed, to aid in conveying unique narratives. For each blog post, I followed a similar format and utilized similar color choices. It was an extremely rewarding experience to not only learn about the depth of others’ experiences during challenging situations but also to contribute my artistic passion to shed light on important perspectives. Throughout my time on the Polyphony Lit team, I have developed and refined my skills in visual storytelling, graphic design, web design, video editing, and even public speaking. Through recording graphic design tutorials for Pakistani students, I was able to use my art and my voice to teach. All in all, I’ve grown in tremendous ways as an editor for Polyphony Lit and will always be grateful for the lessons and mentorship that this organization has offered me.
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Zhile (Julia) Zhou
About the Artist
Zhile Zhou is a student of grade 11 at Beijing Keystone Academy. Passionate about painting, she has painted many artworks including an artbook of García Márquez‘s literary works. Several of her artworks were exhibited at school and featured in Teenink Magazine. Alongside her art pursuits, Zhile shows a zeal for creative writing.Two of her short stories, The Melt and The Clock Tower have been published in Chinese literary magazines. She is also accomplished in the academic fields, and is very enthusiastic on physics, history, and mathematics.
Artist Statement
"I love painting and creative writing. Inspired by imaginative and avant-garde genres, my works often fall in the realms of magical realism, surrealism, and post-modernism, drawing influence from my favorite artists and authors like Henri Matisse, Moebius, Gabriel García Márquez, and Kazuo Ishiguro. Social and cultural themes are frequently explored in my art. I have painted many artworks, including an artbook of García Márquez’s novels and short stories. Recently I am working on a storybook project featuring quantum mechanics and philosophy. Most of my works are digital art created with Procreate, which allows me to experiment with distinctively digital effects that simulate pop-art.
"I am a grade twelve student at Beijing Keystone Academy. Theoretical physics, modern European history, and mathematics are my favorite subjects. I am interested in vexillology, and in my free time, I am self-studying Norwegian, hoping to one day read Jon Fosse’s works in their original language."
