Kids These Days - Thesis
Comprised of 5 picture books authored and illustrated by Cece, “Kids These Days” uses the complexity-busting ability of the picture book format and its powerful reverence for emotions to tell the stories of real adults as fictionalized protagonists of their own childhood-centered stories. These storybooks connect adults with their child selves and their personal experiences with universal lessons, all while centering children’s inherent value and agency as a reminder of the significance of childhood and what should be carried from it. Accompanying this series, the process book features Cece’s photographs recreating the childhood photos of 5 of her close friends participating in the project, quotes from the interviews on which the books are based, and the illustration processes of each. The photos include one of the child self alongside the recreation, located at the back of each respective book, to explore the transformation from childhood to adulthood, and to remind the reader, especially children, that the stories are based on real people.
Kare-Kare from the Heart
A young girl who has been taught to cook for others as a way of showing love for them and taking care of them learns to find others who will do the same for her, and turn her care and love to herself.
Generations of Self Heroes
A young boy decides his destiny is in the kingdom across the river, but when he discovers there is a serpent he will have to defeat in order to cross, he is faced with the choice of defeating it before it grows too big or losing the life he seeks in the kingdom.
The Gift of a Gift
A young girl in a family of musicians can’t play any and feels like an outsider, but she continuously enters an inner world that teaches her about her place in her family and what she has to offer the world.
A Perfectly Messy Daughter
A fairy defined by being the perfect daughter learns to embrace her true self and messiness through meeting a new friend.
Red Balloon
A college student reflects on moments that she felt the most like herself while contemplating an important decision, discovering these moments were influenced by her childhood self who will be integral in assisting in the important decision she faces.
Children's Books
I grew up going to a Waldorf school in L.A. which was a very unique experience in my own childhood and continues to be a source of influence today along with my years of childcare experience. Through the creation of children's books, I seek to use storytelling aimed at children in the beautiful form that is the children's book to tell important, and often untold, stories about being human and collective.
Unhoused, Everyone Belongs
Unhoused is a children’s book that follows a young girl in NYC who is faced with the reality of homelessness in the city and the term “homeless”, and is guided on a journey by the Moon who explains to her that no one is without a home as everyone belongs and deserves housing.
Rose Lets Out the Blue
For a Children's Book Illustration course, I made a sketch dummy of an original story with original illustrations about a young girl who learns to embrace the moments of sadness she has to make the sunny days more beautiful.
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Thank You Younger Me Project
This project focused on children’s rights and connecting with our past child selves as personal and social healing. There is a booklet where I explore this with my child self, and cards to prompt others to do the same. I researched the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to understand children's rights. I made 3 paintings to accompany this project as well, highlighting the magic of children and their need for institutionalized recognized rights. One of the paintings is of my parents when they were babies.
Thank You Younger Me PDF
Paintings to accompany the project illustrating the magic of children as well as their ability to dismantle harmful systems.
Healing Device Project: Rhino/AR
For Studio 2 at Parsons, I made a healing device based on a map of experience with trauma, mapping memory stored in the body and creating a healing device to connect with sensation.
Timeline | Memory/Loss
A map of memory stored in the body
Healing Device | Canopy
Healing space to connect with the body and senses through color, connection with nature, and sound:
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Accessible healing space
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Structure as biophilic design
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People can stand under it, sit under it, or lean against it and look up at the canopy
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Complimentary app based on the Immersion Room at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum to control lights and sound in your ears
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Chromotherapy:
The Ancient Egyptians used chromotherapy, believed to be started by the god Thoth. The Ancient Greeks dedicated temples to color light treatments. In India, “Ayurveda”, the science of light, was utilized, and the practice was combined with taste.​
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RED is used to stimulate the body and mind and to increase circulation
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YELLOW is thought to stimulate the nerves and purify the body
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ORANGE is used to heal the lungs and to increase energy levels
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BLUE is believed to soothe illnesses and treat pain
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INDIGO shades are thought to alleviate skin problems
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Physical Features:
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Trunk ~7’ tall, Canopy ~12’ in length
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Light wooden frame
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Light, half-opaque surface to make a glow under the canopy
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Light panels, muted light
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“Breathe” function connected with app
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Hollow for people who wish to sit or stand within it
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Accessible (wide entranceway)
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Full experience just being outside and looking at the canopy
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Multiple people can use it at once
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Can experience it without the sound component as well
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Two senses (sight and sound) activated and chosen (limited)
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Thunder vest–esque experience
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No/less claustrophobia
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Covid safe