watercolor, color pencil, and ink; 16×20”
“You know that feeling you get when you know you’re doing something you shouldn’t?  When your vision tunnels and all you can pay attention to is the way your hands shake; how your heart pounds on the inside of your skull. That fear of getting found out? That’s the daily life of transgender people in America. My piece depicts a trans boy in the women’s restroom, with a girl giving him a skeptical look. The colors I chose, the boy being blue and everything else being pink, symbolize how out of place he is; the girl’s facial expression adds to that. I utilized hatching and cross-hatching to give the bathroom a grimy, rough look that shows discrimination isn’t an issue above us; it’s everywhere, even in our own neighborhoods.I created this in an attempt to visualize how wrong it feels when you’re shoved into a box you don’t fit in, and forced to live in it.  I want to spread awareness of the violence trans people are subjected to regardless of what bathroom they use. I want people to look at my piece and feel something from it–whether it be the jarring edge of Its wrongness or a blanket of acceptance and the feeling of being seen.”
ARTIST BIO: August BERRYMAN is a grade 11 student at Butler Tech School of Art studying art under art teacher Mary Catherine Ruby.