👉🏿👈🏿

Les Étudiantes (The College Girls)

This piece, titled Les Étudiantes, or The College Girls in English, is a personal reflection inspired by my experiences as a young person navigating the formative years of university at ages 17, 18, and 19. It is a visual exploration of identity, self-awareness, and the disorienting yet illuminating journey of coming into one’s own. At its core, the artwork is a meditation on the value of knowing yourself: your likes and dislikes, your strengths and weaknesses, your values and boundaries, and what it looks like to be grounded in that knowledge.

The piece is split into two metaphorical halves. The lower half represents the raw, chaotic energy of youth: a person/myself fragmented, disorganised, and searching. There's a powerful urge for connection, desire, and meaning, but it's scattered and unsure, reflecting a time of internal conflict. That same lower figure seems to look up, observing, questioning, seeking something higher: perhaps love, perhaps acceptance, perhaps clarity, perhaps self.

Above, the colourful chaos transforms into a vibrant jungle: a metaphor for the nightlife scene, club culture, or party environments that often become stages for self-discovery or disillusionment. The colour palette, partially influenced by the cartoon Total Drama Island (which was playing in the background while the piece was painted), reflects my time living in Canada and adds a playful but layered tone to the overall atmosphere.

Three comic book covers, each featuring a different woman, are embedded in the piece. These serve as reminders that every person has a story: layered, complex, and far deeper than first impressions allow. No one is just a face in the club or a fleeting moment on the dance floor. Everyone is the protagonist of their own narrative.

On the far right, the woman from Silbuster in her pink outfit with a halo-like glow represents the innocent or lost youth. Perhaps this was her first night out; perhaps she tried vaping for the first time and panicked. She doesn’t belong here, not because of moral judgement, but because this experience doesn’t align with her values. Soon, she will return to her dorm, reaffirming her sense of self, choosing the quiet joy of the things she genuinely enjoys: going to uni, reading books, early runs, over the noise of a scene that was never truly hers. In the end, we often find our way back to ourselves.

In the centre is the conventionally attractive girl: a kind of “It girl,” like a character from Mean Girls. Everything about her is soo fetch. Surrounded by chaotic energy, even a boxing match breaking out from the pages of her comic, she draws everyone’s attention. She knows what she wants and how to get it. She uses her looks strategically, maybe even manipulatively, like the witch in Snow White. Her power is clear, but it’s wielded from a place not necessarily aligned with her deeper self. She is bold and confident, but is it misplaced?

On the top left is the girl in the blue section: the “cool” tone both literally and symbolically. She has found a balance. She understands herself: her ego, her boundaries, her needs. The three pink record-like circles near her represent DJ sets or sound, a structured chaos she’s in control of. This night out is not an escape, but part of a schedule. She will dance, then go home, hydrate, take a vitamin, and study. Her idea of fun is her own, and she is unmoved by outside perceptions. If board games and tea were her joy, that’s what she’d be doing. Her confidence comes from being internally anchored.

As viewers, we’re invited to reflect, especially from the fragmented lens of the bottom half, on three distinct outcomes of self-awareness:

1. The internal disarray that comes from straying from our values despite knowing better.
   
   

2. The danger of exploiting our strengths to manipulate or harm, driven by ego.
   
   

3. The power and peace in knowing who we are, standing firm, and living life in accordance with our values.
   
   

Les Étudiantes is ultimately a study in becoming: in learning to observe ourselves, to question our motivations, and to respect the quiet strength that comes from living a life in alignment with our true selves.