Author: Khadijah Shoaab

My mask doesn’t really look how I had originally envisioned it but it’s like a brainchild. To break it down, firstly the left eye is a pharaonic eye which is an iconic symbol of Egypt which is where I am from ethnically so I wanted to homage since it is a huge part of my life. Also the tribal chin tattoo is another reference to my north African heritage. Next to the eye you can see the Hamilton logo which symbolizes my recent-ish obsession with the Broadway play and all the songs on the album on Spotify. I chose a gold and silver half and half design to reference my love for jewelry and my silver rings and gold watches. I love mixing metals even though they might not look good together. I used water colors for this and they are actually glittery but you can’t see it that well in these photos. The three blots of black in the middle of the forehead is a little nod to my first anime which was Naruto. The red triangles are a call to the character shin-ah from Yona of the Dawn which is one of if not my favorite anime of all time and is a classic to rewatch for me when I miss home or need a break. They really need to make a second season :(. The curly and triangle abstract lashes and the lips are symbols of my love for makeup and how I view it as its own art form and is one of my favorite ways of self-expression. The TEC on the side of the right brow-bone is a reference to my favorite artist of all time Lil Tecca (best rapper ever). TEC is one of his album names. The music note is the most personal symbol of my mask. It represents my love for singing. It is my biggest way to de-stress and always makes me the happiest and it has been that way since I was little. The blue nose just felt very maximalist and that is how I would describe my style so that is why its there. There are also blue dainty design on top which should be flowers but I am not that good at drawing so I did it as a homage to the way my mom would dress me in florals for a bigggg chunk of my life.

Upon finding out that we were going to an opera, I was super excited. I love watching people preform and opera is such a powerful art/singing style so it was really cool to experience it. I think it was also funny because we differed so much from the usually age range that went to the opera but I hope younger people can romanticize the opera and show up for more of these experiences because I can definitely say this experiences was truly one of one.

Upon walking into the building I was shocked by the beautiful chandelier and walk ways it was so surreal that just two blocks down was the subway, dirty streets, just regular nyc. Maybe that’s what makes it such a cool experience. The story telling aspect of the opera wasn’t necessarily my favorite in comparison to the movie or the book but the scenes were so beautiful. Whether it was the fake snow or the house and back drop, all the scene set ups were so stunning. I also kind of blame this on the chairs we had but I think my eyes being strained the whole time to see who was speaking also took away from the whimsy but I still was captivated the whole time. I think now looking back the opera Mimi’s personality was kind of washed out and I wish we got to see more of her as a opposed to side plots.

In terms of the movie I found it a lot more heart warming and it does defy some of the opera endings which was cool to see. I think overall the movie does bring in the modern twists that give it a more understandable plot as opposed to the opera but I think the opera also has the setting and the time limit and a bunch of other factors that make it it’s own unique experience. Overall I found both versions to be beautifully acted and portrayed and I think I also just really like musicals and performances so i was sold from the beginning.

The zoom call with Rich was really interesting. It was cool to see someone so passionate about what they do. All the stories he had about people who they refused or his favorite tattoos were super fun to listen to. Also knowing that he is a poet was really inspiring. Knowing that he wasn’t confined to one specific career or role was nice to see. Rich seemed like a really kind person and his story about how they refused that group of girls the same exact tattoo was actually really interesting. I think it definitely solidified the idea that tattooing is truly an art. It isn’t something that can be copy and pasted around like photos rather the craftsmanship is what makes it alive and different. Each tattoo tells its own story in that sense. Overall it was really cool to meet rich and get to know more of the CUNY faculty.

The shuttle to the Brooklyn Museum was really fun it definitely added to the experience and it was nice to travel as a whole class like back in grade school.

As we got into museum I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I was looking forward to seeing my high school friends but honestly I found that hanging around our CSI Macaulay group was way more enjoyable. We were sat for the provost’s talk and then we were released into the museum. To be honest I was expected the MET style art work but it was more of a diverse art experience. Even though it was only 1 floor it was really cool. The walls were all different colors and it was interesting to see what all the rooms were designated for, like there was one dedicated to the nudeness of butts which was definitely something.

We took so many photos it felt almost distracting from the art at times but I loved getting to have all these memories of the night with my friends and so i definitely don’t regret it.

It was really nice to see all the different faces of Macaulay and see new people. All in all it was a really nice change of pace and gave me some thinking time which was greatly needed during midterms.

The journey starts on a cloudy filled day. The ferry trip was super fun with Lisa and getting to find out that Dunkin was now on the ferry (not really good for my wallet) was so fun. As we walked to the theater I won’t deny the coffee I was sipping on did make my stomach hurt but it wouldn’t be a real coffee if it didn’t. We also saw a really cool car and stopped to ask is this art?

As we got seated in our front row seats my anticipation grew faster and as the lights dimmed I couldn’t imagine what would happen next. I’ve never been do a ballet but I love seeing live performances. The first dance was really fun for me. It had a lot of movement and expression and was super colorful and over had a really fun story from what I could tell. The second dance I didn’t really like it had notes of one sided love but overall wasn’t really funny to me and rather worrying due to the sweat from the male dancer but I can’t blame him he was doing way more than I was lol. The third dance was truly captivating. It was like watching a sweet love story and the under the sea theme was very beautiful to see. We also met the lady from the dance and she was soo sweet.

The final dance was by far my favorite though. It had a sort of Arabian nights vibe and was really beautiful. The glittery outfits and headbands and hair jewelry was really stunning. I also really enjoyed the music. Getting to see some of the dancers from other dances and see how passionate they were, made me really happy for them. It also made me wonder how they figured out dance was for them. Were they starving artists? It all made me wonder how it felt to be under those lights and preforming.

We ended the day with a stressful hunt for food. After not eating anything except an ice coffee anything sounded good. I went to Dave’s Hot Chicken and had the besttt hot chicken sandwich I had in a while. On our way to the SIM Anjali, Jayson and I stumbled upon 2 art galleries and they were so cool and had a bunch of modern art. After a long walk we made it home on a very fun SIM trek home.

This is a art piece by Kelsea Petersen depicting pro-Palestinian protestors who stormed Hamilton Hall in Columbia University after the university took away their encampments on April 30th. The focus of this art piece is the Hind’s Hall Banner that they hang from the balcony which represents the taking over of the building in honor of the the 5 year old little girl, Hind Rami Iyad Rajab, who was murdered by Israeli forces along with 6 of her family members. They were in their car, fleeing the city due to the war, when the vehicle was shelled (bombarded with artillery). Most of her family died immediately and later on everyone but the 5 year old girl was dead. She was left stranded in a car with all of her dead relatives for hours. Ultimately she was found dead alongside the paramedics that tried to save her. The car was found to be shot up 335 times. 335 bullets were shot through the car that she was in.

I do believe that this art piece is a hundred percent still relevant. The killing of Palestinians is still ongoing and with the death toll reaching over 680,000 people, most of which are children and teenagers, it has been classified as a ongoing genocide. This protest art is a reclaiming of peoples voices. A way to show solidarity with victims of mass bombing, shootings, torture. These protest’s are a way to shake up our daily lives in the west where we are away from all this tragedy and made to feel as though the world is spinning like normal. Many of the victims of this brutal genocide are teenagers, kids, and infants. They won’t get the ability to speak their minds freely, they won’t get to have a say in the future, or how they lived their lives. This war took away their voices and their lives and that makes this art that much more relevant. It is a way for people to speak for those unable to speak and a way to educate and reclaim autonomy against ruthless behavior. It ultimately is a sign of resistance that shows they are condemning the brutal and completely unnecessary loss of life.

As I walked into Snug Harbor I was met with an insane spread of art by local artists. I couldn’t look around yet though, because I had to get to the art lab building since I was running late lol. As I walked into the building, I found myself met with a bunch of doors with art demos going on. The ceramics class was filled up so I went into this empty room filled with beautiful art labeled “Painting or Still Life”. Honestly I’m glad I did because I was the only one there and it was so serene and peaceful in there.

As I walked in I was met with the kindest soul, and the artist that made all these piece. Griselda Healy was her name. She seemed a bit surprised about my entrance but introduced herself and I asked her about her work. She said she’s been painting for as long as she could remember and preferred painting on cloth (as seen in her self portrait above). I thought as a person who still doesn’t know what they want in a career, I should ask her what made her so sure this career was right for her, since she is someone who has dedicated decades to their passion, . She simply responded, she knew from a young age this was what she was meant for. I wish I could say I was happy with this answer but honestly it just made me want to change the topic. She started me up with some still life and water colors and she even let me use her personal water colors which were soooo cool.

Spoiler for how my painting came out. While I was sketching she gave me so many useful tips for shaping and dimensions and even for how to mix the water colors. I overall felt like the experience was super calming and enjoyable. I honestly wish I spent more time there. There was also a display room with some of the art from the artist that were teaching classes. I took photos of some of the pieces that caught my eye.

After we left, some of us went to get ice cream from egger’s and walked around looking at the art stalls. I even met my boss who was photographing the event so that was super fun! All in all the day was super fun and a nice local change of pace.

^Some art I liked in eggers!

On Sunday 9/7/2025 I went to the Whitney Museum of American Art. I went with some of my classmates and we took the ferry + train to get there. It was really nice to be back in Manhattan because Staten Island does feel kind of uncanny valley sometimes. I didn’t really know what to expect from the museum but I really enjoyed my experiences at various art galleries in Manhattan and I love the MET so I was excited.

Upon walking in we walked into an amazing elevator. It felt like being in the ocean. After getting out we arrived at Christine Sun Kim’s exhibit: All Day All Night. It was about the artist’s lived experiences as a deaf person. I thought it was really funny and enjoyable to read and understand. It was cool to see that someone can vent out their frustration about underqualified interpreters and hearing-people being ignorant and it still qualifying as art. It did make me ask the question of “Does it make it art just because it is hung in a museum?”. I also found it to be especially nice because I have family members with hearing loss and I thought it was wonderful to have this space as representation. Overall though it was enjoyable I was still looking for something that spoke to me.

We moved to floor 7 called “Untitled” (America). As soon as we got off the elevator I saw the painting that spoke to me. A painting of a man and his mother. In a floor named after America, I looked for myself in the art and I was entirely captivated by the eyes in the painting. The artist Arshile Gorky painted the image based on his deeply personal experiences of him as a child with his mother in Armenia. Though their eyes felt sad they felt filled with uncertainty more than anything. I think that mixed with the fact that they were Muslim presenting really felt relatable. I stood in front of it for a solid 5 minutes looking at all the little details.

I found a lot of the art on this floor to be really cool and relatable honestly. There was so much to absorb and even though they weren’t all necessarily part of my personal culture or background it felt like there was a certain sense of experimental self expression that connected them. I think that’s what made me feel like this last art piece that I saw before we left the floor, was that much more outstanding.

The last floor I really was mentally there for was floor 6: Shifting Landscapes. I walked around but honestly I was just looking for a bench to sit in front of. Ironically I found the most amazing art piece to disassociate in front of. The art piece was called BugSim (Pheromone Spa) by the Greek artist Theo Trianatfyllids. This was a digital art piece that slowly moved and depicted bugs moving around rocks with nature sounds in the background. I genuinely could have sat in front of it all day. It was so randomly captivating. It wasn’t just me who thought this though. We all kind of came and sat in front of it for at least like 5 minutes. It was so relaxing.

After this floor we basically started heading down and at the entrance floor there was a mini print vending machine and we all had a go and bought little mini prints of art. I thought it was really cute and a fun keepsake and bonding moment! We got food after in Korea-town and went home. All in all it was a really nice change of pace and I would totally do it again!

Khadijah Shoaab: The gnome spoke to me in a sense of nostalgia. I used to watch a cartoon show as kid called Gravity Falls and it had many Gnomes throughout the show and so seeing a miniature version of a ginormous wooden Gnome spoke to my childhood. I believe it does represent CSI in the sense that it is made up of so many different parts but appears as a whole just like the dolphin community. I also think the little 3d printed gnomes also symbolize us as a freshman class entering a huge new world. I believe a CSI student created the gnome out of wood in a forest for a art project because we found it in the art building. The sheer scale of the gnome in a setting such as a forest does imply some symbolism.

Mehdina Nimatova: The gnome speaks to me because on first glance it’s nothing crazy but once you look at the other components you realize it was part of something much bigger, from the size of the larger piece to the number of people who worked on it. There was just a lot more than what met the eye.

I do think it represents our campus because we are all part of something bigger than ourselves and play our own roles here. 

I think it’s here because a huge group of people came together to make it happen. They all contributed to make this huge gnome….

Anjali Nair: This artwork doesn’t necessarily speak to me because it doesn’t connect to anything I have seen before in my life. I do think that the piece is very interesting where so much effort and minds went into creating it. I think it represents out campus as it shows the power of collaboration and putting your minds together to create this creation and the little gnomes represent us students while the big gnome is our campus. I think it is there because the creators went to CSI and created it for themselves as well as for a project

Jordana Caserta: This piece of art speaks to me because it was interesting to see the different steps that were taken to make a really cool piece. I also like the little miniature versions in front of the large gnome. Honestly, this piece reminds me of my childhood and innocence. I think this piece can represent our campus because the little gnomes can represent the students and the large gnome can represent the campus itself. The little gnomes being different colors represents diversity, but the same idea of “gnome” represents us all being CSI dolphins.

I think this artwork was here because someone from the school created it and wanted to display it. The person who created it was most likely a person who went here and wanted it to be here on display

Felicia Cruciata:How the art “speaks to me”:

The gnome speaks to me because at first, I didn’t much of the gnome but when I got a closer look at the gnome I saw everything that went into it. I saw how many people worked to the creation of the gnome and how big this project was in both size and contribution.

Does this represent campus?

I think the gnome does represent the campus it took a community to create the gnome and CSI is a community.