about

Hi, I’m Leila, a 17 y/o student at The Lawrenceville School who specializes in painting people—especially faces. I’m drawn to emotion and how to capture an individual through their facial features and expression. My work explores themes of identity, vulnerability, and the everyday beauty of being seen.

Over the last few years, I have been working to develop my skills as an artist, with a focus on creating portraits or scenes in everyday settings. I primarily work with oil paints, often creating pieces from life or photographs of myself or those close to me. I love exploring the concept of “girlhood” and how my works relate to moments in my own life. Each piece is an attempt to capture not just how someone looks, but how they feel.

In my future works, I plan to more fully explore the concept of eyes, vision, and perspective. I believe I have a unique perspective with which to explore these concepts, stemming from a lifelong history of both acute nearsightedness and farsightedness, eye misalignment, and stereo blindness (i.e., I see the world in two dimensions, not three). My medical struggles have caused me to reflect on the personal and societal importance and implications of vanity, perception vs. actuality, representation, and perspective. Art is the medium in which I can explore, translate, and convey my ideas, both literally and metaphorically.