2019 NEXT Featured Students

Layla Saad (B.F.A. '19) is a American-Muslim artist focused on perceptions of identity and the influence of culture, religion and society. Her work often explores the synergy between the grotesque and the sublime. She works primarily in sculpture, inkwork, large scale installation, and projects that engage communities. Her portfolio explores a diverse body of work from traditional craft to participatory social activism and contemporary fusion art.

Layla’s thesis work is largely inspired by the 2016 elections, but her journey through the Corcoran has also encouraged her to further explore her identity.  In a rapidly changing socio-political climate, Layla wants to emphasize that minority representation is both important and a hot-topic, through the utilization of natural materials.
 

Ashley Llanes (B.F.A., '19) is a queer-identifying artist who makes personal, political work about her Cuban-American identity, her affinity with Miami’s culture, and her relationship to her upbringing as a Catholic.

As a Cuban-American growing up in Miami, Quinceañera portraits of her mother, grandmother, and great grandmother adorned her living room. However, Ashley denied the opportunity of a Quinceañera photoshoot, fearing it would be oppressive and a series of decisions that would be made on her behalf. Eight years later, she is replacing her missing photoshoot through her thesis, La Quinceañera, which explores the ethnic conservation of family values and the gender and cultural expectations that are introduced to a woman on her fifteenth birthday through the emulation of her family’s Quinceañera photos. By using self-portraiture to document her performance, she hopes to create a dialogue of appreciation towards the aesthetics of the tradition while evaluating its function.

Ellen Kim (B.F.A., '19) is interested in the human experience, focusing on how humans connect and form relationships with one another.  Noticing the increased integration of human interaction and technology, Ellen noticed social connections are becoming altered.  

In her project, entitled The Social Collective , Ellen explores human-to-human connection by creating a community and exhibition center located in Anacostia Park.  Ellen hopes that her project will showcase the importance of fostering a community through art and collaboration within the DC area.  

Keren Carrion (B.F.A., '19) was born and raised in Puerto Rico. After Hurricane Maria hit on September 20, 2017, it completely changed her perception of the island, compelling her to tell the stories of her people and their home. Although she couldn't work on the island for her thesis, she found a way to tell the story from right here in D.C.

Keren’s thesis, Quemado, or Burned, is a video documentary exploring how the hurricane has altered the lives of a woman named Angela and her family, who temporarily relocated to D.C. after the storm. She hopes that her thesis sheds light on the metaphor between how the hurricane stripped the island to its core and how Angela's family, and many other Puerto Rican families, had to make sacrifices in order to survive and heal.

Last year, when Amina Javed (M.A., '19) was photographing an assignment on Veterans Day at the Arlington National Cemetery, she encountered an elderly white man and his wife. What started off as a friendly conversation soon became an awkward situation as she was asked questions such as why she wasn’t wearing a veil, how her father allowed her to get an education and how she was able to speak English. Stunned by the encounter, Amina was inspired to use her thesis project as an opportunity to change some of the misunderstandings surrounding her community.

Amina’s thesis, Everybody’s Normal, is a multimedia project focusing on the diverse identities of Muslim women in the United States. The project challenges prevailing stereotypes of Islam by depicting the women in their everyday lives and experiences.

Her project aims to show how truly dynamic, strong and independent American Muslim women are. It focuses on the day-to-day moments and little nuances that are same for everyone, Muslim or not, so people can see these women just like anyone else.
 

When Cassie Green (M.A., '19) received her acceptance to GW’s MA program in Museum Studies, she was thrilled but faced the challenge of moving across the country with her husband and five children from Boise, Idaho. She wanted her children to know that no goal they set for themselves was too big to accomplish, so they committed to the East coast. Cassie’s husband quit his job, they sold their house, and didn’t look back.

Since her move, Cassie has completed a directed research project and interned for both the Department of Anthropology’s Skeletal Biology Program and the Collections Program overseeing the Office of Education and Outreach collections  at the National Museum of Natural History. “It is our duty to preserve and protect [museums] for future generations,” Cassie explains. Her various work has helped to ensure that the world’s natural and cultural history is maintained for her children and the generations beyond.
 

Bailey Ryan (M.A., '19) is a designer, scientist, and maker from Chapel Hill, North Carolina; she creates interactive learning spaces that communicate lessons about the natural world. Her work uses the power of play to share complex subjects with people of all ages.

Her thesis project, America’s Amazon, is a proposed children's nature center and learning garden exploring Alabama’s Mobile-Tensaw Delta. The Delta is a global treasure of biodiversity and a unique American wilderness. It is also little-known, difficult to visit, and under threat from climate change. The exhibition brings the Delta to Birmingham, AL - a sprawling city where the next generation of Alabama environmentalists are growing up with limited access to nature. An unassuming downtown building transforms into a greenhouse gallery full of life. Exciting playspaces and ecological interactives bring city children up close and personal with one of America’s last truly wild places.
 

Renee Glanville is using her talent in digital media design to showcase a new perspective on communication. As a member of the deaf community, Renee’s art is inspired by her personal experience with language barriers and the frustration of empty communication.  

Renee aims for her thesis, Communication Access and Language Barriers, to promote understanding between the deaf and hearing communities.  Through both projections and and videos featuring people trying to read lips, posters, and finger spell, Renee hopes to illustrate the presence of audism, or the oppression of deaf people in relation to communication, encouraging the understanding of deaf culture.
 

Nicole Kremin (B.A., '19) was born with microphone in hand. She always had a passion for music, and began taking vocal lessons at the age of 10, building up a repertoire across genres. Upon arriving at GW, she immediately declared a minor in music and joined GW JiVE (Jazz Vocal Ensemble). Her love for music and the department was so strong, however, that a minor was not enough, and she soon declared a music major.

Her senior thesis recital, Renovations: Investigating the Boundaries of Repertoire Ownership, is a solo vocal performance primarily focused on Jazz and R&B. It will feature songs that have been relocated from one genre to another contrasting genre. The recital will examine the concept of ownership of genres or songs within music and if an artist has autonomy over them.
 

Julia Scolapio (B.A., '19), from Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, is interested in the stigmatization of disability within the context of Ecuador and Peru.  Through her study of equity in these regions, her dance is inspired by the fight underrepresented groups must face.

Julia’s performance will explore the relationship between the personal and the political in a fight for government recognition and support. One cast of dancers will represent the strength and power of political leaders and institutions, and the other will represent the individual and collective fight for government recognition and support.  Her project will showcase video projections and sound clips from the rural zones of Ecuador and Peru, where the individual battle for government recognition among disabled populations is prevalent.
 

Emily Ariz (B.A., '19) is double-majoring in dance and international affairs.  During her time at GW, she has choreographed works that deal with a wide array of topics, allowing the audience to interpret the works through their own individual experiences.  Through her own self-reflection, Emily uses her identification as a people-pleaser to inspire her psychology-based art form.

Emily’s work is titled Expressive Suppression: A Study of Emotional Regulation.  Her work is inspired by what happens when feelings are suppressed for a prolonged period of time.  The piece will be separated into different sections based on the methods and stations of emotional regulation: reappraisal, suppression, social consequences of suppression, and resolution.