Senior Zahra Ahmed, winner for her portrait of an old woman,  “True Distortion”,  shares her love for art and her passion for life.

“When I moved here the band was such a huge program that I wanted something a little more intimate, so I got into art,” Ahmed said. “I think [art] is a really cool way to spread a message.”

Ahmed said that although she has loved art since the first grade, it wasn’t until her sophomore year that she truly became obsessed with it, discovering the many ways it is conveyed in the world today.

“There are some paintings that I have that have some science in them, so you can really portray [or] take any concept or idea and manipulate it to your own style or how you want to portray it or what you think of something,” Ahmed said. “When you are an artist, you are really open-minded because you know that there are so many interpretations for everything that there is no absolute answer.”

In the vibrant colors of her African art to her meticulous technical paintings conveying human interaction, Ahmed said her art relates who she in its different ways, shapes and forms.

“I use my artwork to explore my curiosity,” Ahmed said. “Everything I create is influenced by stuff that I see. That is kind of the general rule for everything. I am really interested in human interaction, human perception, so a lot of my artwork has that kind of social commentary going on.”

Alongside exploring her curiosity, Ahmed said she pulls inspiration anywhere from Internet and books to her own experiences to further widen her horizons and convey in her pieces what she feels anyone can pull from in her love for art.

“I think [art is] a really powerful way to convey a message, because even though you have a meaning that you are putting into something, that is not necessarily what someone else is going to get from it,” Ahmed said.

Ahmed said that at the core of her artwork, she feels she is expressing herself, sharing a part of who she is, and in doing so finds the message behind her artwork becomes clearer as she figures herself out.

“I just really like looking at the little things and how they combine to make something bigger, and I think that is parallel to my artwork,” Ahmed said. “I think that has probably shaped my artwork a lot because I think in my artwork I am attempting to answer really abstract questions. That is probably one of the major ways my life has influenced my artwork.”

Ahmed said what she will miss about Allen High and how she intends to move on from graduation.

“Allen High School has a really strong community,” Ahmed said. “I think there is a lot of support here and a lot of resources here that I feel going to college it’s almost every man for himself. At Allen High, even though it is really competitive, there’s always somewhere you can go to for help.”

In the future, Ahmed said she wants to join the Peace Corps, research Astrophysics and receive her degree in Mechanical Engineering. Her goal in life: to be content.

“When I am on my deathbed, I want to be like, ‘Yeah, I did everything I wanted to do, and I am happy,’” Ahmed said. “That is one of my main goals, to just be happy.”