With original art, teen Scholastic Awards winners tune into suffering and uncertainty
By Grace Griffin Globe Correspondent,Updated April 4, 2021, 7:00 a.m.
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A cat, frozen mid-jump, turns toward a medical mask suspended with it in the air.
The hyper-realistic drawing by Wayland Middle School eighth-grader Alyssa Ao earned an American Visions nomination in this yearâs Massachusetts Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. Titled âSchrödingerâs Cat,â the piece encapsulates the uncertainty that defined the year 2020 for people young and old.
The drawing was inspired when Aoâs art teacher, Yuanan Cheng, showed her a photo of a friendâs cat. Ao began drawing it in December 2019, originally planning nothing more than a portrait of the feline. When the threat of COVID-19 became apparent, however, she started pondering ways to represent the crisis in her work.