Art: ‘Hyperfixations Plague the Mind’ by Karen Barrera
This piece placed second for high school art submissions in the 2023 Ánimo Voices Writing and Art Competition, which invited students to respond to the open prompt “About Joy” The competition is an opportunity to motivate, recognize, and celebrate our strong student voices through writing, spoken word, and art.
Hyperfixations Plague the Mind
Artist Statement
My name is Karen Barrera-Perez. I was born in Los Angeles, California. I am a Latina artist who has been drawing from a young age and is the oldest of two siblings. My parents came over to California when they were young, my father from Mexico and my mother from El Salvador, and although we’ve had hardships, such as the passing of my Abuela, we still make it through it all together. As an artist, I mainly work with pencil or graphite and digital. As a neurodivergent, I become hyper-fixated on many things, which would be certain games, tv shows, or movies as well as the characters related. These hyper fixations bring me immense joy, a tidal wave of serotonin if you will, so I love to draw them out. For this contest, Hyperfixations Plague The Mind, it is through digital art that I
illustrated the theme of joy in my art piece. I incorporated a warm palette of colors to communicate what joy means to me, as well as including value. Using red, orange, and yellow, I evoked joy within my piece by placing as much detail as I could on each interest I love, making the colors vibrant to express the emotion of happiness I feel when it comes to that interest.
