graphite;
16×20″ 
“Have you ever smoked a cigarette or been around someone who smokes them? For my piece about cigarette smoking, I drew a man in the center of a page with his head tilted upwards and his mouth slightly open. Smoke around him but not surrounding him, as there is white space around his head. Above his head is a skull made from the surrounding smoke, symbolizing the effects of smoking. The smoke has got a hold of him like he’s lost, trapped.  As for the median, I used graphite to have a smoky-like texture. This topic is crucial to me because my aunt is a big cigarette smoker and because she smokes so much, she had a brain aneurysm and almost passed away. This is scary and I wouldn’t want this to happen to someone else or someone get lung cancer over smoking. This is why I want to convey this message to encourage people to stop.”
ARTIST BIO: Syah KNOX is a grade 11 student at Butler Tech School of Art studying art under art teacher Mary Catherine Ruby.