John Oliver | Incubator21-22

Araville Wizlei Viernes

'Conscious Mystery'

I fell in love with the structure of tall buildings and the city itself. I believe that streets and tall buildings represent our dreams and path. It makes me look up ahead, out and beyond, to the sky where we realize our dreams. Dreams are always far out there and seem out of your reach. Using collage, the black and white image represents the real world we live within. The coloured images represent the dreams we are obsessed with and the red spots lead us to these dreams. They also further obscure our reality. When we get obsessed with the idea of a dream, we can’t see ourselves in the real world. Do we create these obsessions so we don’t have to face brutal truths? Is this what drives us to achieve our dreams? This work was inspired by photographer Odette England. Her artwork felt mysterious to me and I wanted to achieve that feeling in my artwork to share the mysterious reasons we become obsessed with dreams.

Araville Wizlei Viernes

'Conscious Mystery'

Ayman Ramos

'Solitude is Peace'

The art I make is purely my way of expressing my emotions and creativity. Depending on whether I am creating art with a reference image or if I am creating art with my thoughts, I like to pour my heart into my drawings and make it meaningful to me. I was inspired by Adriene Hughes, who integrated his art style into photography, and my past experiences which came together to create the image I am presenting to you all. I want people to see peace in being alone and see that there is a light within themselves that sparks in a crowd of darkness. There is peace in solitude and people only need to love themselves to be happy with life.

Chrissy Johnson

'my brother and dad and two flowers'

I have a dream family. I’ve created this dreamlike image of my dad and brother because I love them very much. I care very much about my family and I am very proud of them. I’ve added my two favourite flowers to reflect not only me, but also to represent how big my family used to be and how small it is now. The driving force behind the creation of my work is that I wanted to share more about my family because I love them so much and I like to talk about them. I would like people to come away from viewing my image knowing how important my family is to me and how lucky I am to have the people of my dreams to love.

Coshiela Bote

'Figuring It Out'

My work is a reflection on the pressure teens feel when thinking about their plans after high school and toward adulthood. Self-doubt can overcome us so much through this process. Is this the right choice? Am I willing to sacrifice to make these dreams come true? Prepared to face the obstacles in the way? The “dreamers” theme made me realize how dreaming can be exciting but overwhelming for many teenagers. It becomes this huge chaos in your head, which feels mentally exhausting. I wanted to express these feelings through my model looking overtired, using a mirror as a portal reflecting their idea of being an adult who is living their best life. The late-night conversations I had with my friends freaking out about growing up is what inspired me to create this piece. I want to send a message to anyone who feels like they haven’t figured it all out yet, that you’re not the only one feeling this way.

Dylan Yalung

'Wanderer'

This image called Wanderer connects to me because I often find myself lost and isolated, socially, from others. This piece is a form of self-expression and an opportunity where I can step outside my comfort zone. In a way, this picture is a personal memory being relived in a surreal dream. My piece is unique because the image I created was a picture of myself that I also took by myself. I know I wanted to capture the concept of loneliness but it means more to me with me as the subject. The message to take away from this piece is that it’s our decision whether to be alone or not, and to find ourselves. We can’t wait for others to do the work for us, so we must do it. Many motivating figures in my life have motivated me to reflect on what sort of person I am. I wanted to express my struggle of being alone and lost in what my identity is. Hopefully, my experience can connect with or inspire others with their challenges.

Fathima Mohamed Sukry

Being a kid, you always had dreams. BIG, BIG Dreams! You had dreams that would inspire you, dreams that would make you happy, dreams that would excite and evoke all your emotions, and dreams that would make you feel free. Sadly, these dreams are crushed for children who are forced to work at an early age. The issue of child labour inspired me to create this project. Child labour is a huge problem in today’s world, over 79 million children between the ages of 5 and 16 must work every day for long hours and in unsafe conditions. They don’t even receive minimum wage; they get about $2-$5 per day for their work. These children never get to experience the same freedom and joy we have felt as a child. Their childhood gets demolished and the only way of feeling free and joy is by dreaming and imagining.

Fender Acosta

'Hope in trying times.'

I was introduced to photography a year ago. In the beginning, I found it exceedingly difficult to take a “pretty picture,” however now that I am studying Photography, I find that the beauty in a photograph comes from the meaning behind it, not the image that represents it. This piece is called “Hope in trying times,” as it shows the light within darkness. I wanted this image to resonate with those who are currently going through a lot of things in their lives, and I wanted them to see the ‘hope’ in those dark and trying times. My main inspiration for this piece is a friend of mine, as I wanted her specifically to see this and see the hope in the darkness that she is currently in..

Gurkirin Sangha

'into the blue'

The goal that is set for my photography with this project is to present an eye and show the beauty and depth behind it. By changing the angle, texture, shape etc, of the way the original image is taken. For example, with my final image, the eye in the picture may seem like a basic blue eye; as you look more in-depth, with some Photoshop the eye looks like the shore of the ocean. The theme for this project is “Dreamers”, and when you look deeply into the details of the eye it connects with the visual images you create during your dreams. People, when admiring my work should hopefully feel a sense of shock and surprise by realizing what the image is delivering with it. Making my photography a bit mysterious and more interesting was my intention, the viewers should determine whether it achieves that goal..

Jarell Vicencio

'Blur'

My project revolves around the idea of weird peculiarities and dreams, and it was my goal to visualize some of these aspects in my images. The first aspect I used is in my preliminary image, which is the state of colour in our dreams. Dreams are weird in a way where there are a lot of inconsistencies compared to the real world, and colours are one of the few things I found bizarre. For me, colours in dreams are drab and monotonous or vibrant and monochromatic. It appears normal to us because we usually have seen the same things, people, places in our dreams so we know what it looks like. The same thing applies to faces and details in dreams. We don’t really have the technology to see what things in our dreams really look like, and I find it fun to think that faces and details aren’t the same, and there’s always something off about it. I chose this for my final photo because I find that this inconsistency is what separates dreams from our real world.

Jeffer Ward

'Story Time'

Dreams. A state of thoughts, images, emotions and sensations, in the mind that occur throughout the day and while asleep. My friend, who is the subject in the image, drove me around showing me his version of downtown. As we drove he shared his stories. Stories in the areas he and his friends would goof around when he was young. He has lived in Vancouver for 70+ years, he told me about the different landscapes that used to be around when he was growing up. As he drove me to different spots downtown, we captured many photographs, me with a camera and him dreaming of long-ago days in his youth, picturing his friends and the emotions experienced with them. It was a special moment we shared, and I was grateful to be able to capture it on film. Of all the images I captured that day, none of them touched me like this one. He looks as if he was daydreaming about the past. I want my photography to capture the impactful moments I get to experience with the people in my life, like this one dreaming of days gone by.

Julius Carillo

'False Hope'

In Japan, younger generations seem to lack both physical and emotional intimacy. For many younger people living in Japan, they prefer a digital character rather than an actual person. I made this discovery while researching why Japanese are lonely and my image is inspired by this phenomenon: the person reaching out their hand is dreaming about an individual who can love him for who he is, yet a digital character cannot fulfill that spot. This is reiterated in the text, What’s the matter? You are just a FAKE! Many people dream about love, but unless you take action and are determined to get what you want, it will always be just a dream..

Kamran Chahal

'Relection'

Reflection is a black and white portrait photograph that tackles identity and is twisted to look like a nightmare. Each hand has been photoshopped and edited to match the setting, and to appear as shadowy figures that cover the model's face. The model is standing at the center of the frame and positioned normally – almost as if they’re being silenced by shadowy hands. I added a spotlight effect to the model to focus on his face and who he is. The shadowy effects are to represent society, and the way that the hands cover the model's mouth is to represent how society tries to silence the voices of transgender people by refusing to acknowledge their identity. Tying back into the topic of dreams – people who don’t feel safe to fully express themselves or act the way they want to in the outside world in fear of being shut out for who they are would be an absolute nightmare and is why I chose to make this my final photo.

Kaylie Penolio

'The Collection'

Photography is not only a method of communicating my ideas but one of the many ways I am able to meet and learn more about people in my community. I recently discovered the term intersectionality, how different people experience different types of discrimination based on age, race, sexuality or gender. With this year’s theme, Dreamers, I wanted to explore intersectionality by talking to a diverse group of women and learning about their experiences. This project allowed me to meet women who have dealt with different types of discrimination while working towards their dreams and what they want to achieve in their lives. This image is a documentation of this experience.

Lynk Raulia

'Trapped'

My work tackles the struggles of body dysphoria. Although body dysphoria is something anyone can experience, my message mainly relates to the body dysphoria I experience as a transgender person. Body dysphoria is something many trans individuals struggle with on a daily basis. Dysphoria leaves you in a complete and utter mess. My photo is a combination of both a dream and nightmare. My nightmares are centered around being born in the wrong body and going to extreme measures such as unsafely binding to get rid of my dysphoria. The dream aspect of it is finally achieving the body I feel most comfortable and most like myself in..

Maxz Garcia

'Me, Myself, and I'

My photo reflects the struggle that some people face, including myself, when it comes to expressing one’s identity and belonging within society. Society constructs a division where people are born a certain gender and are to stay that way. I believe that society needs to change. The public should start to accept that we, ourselves, are the only ones who can determine who we are and not others. I want to show how we are as people, in the private spaces of our home where we are comfortable to explore gender fluidity. It is my desire to raise awareness towards gender performance and help change this so-called “normality” in society, in hopes that people would accept this change. It is also my dream that we can be open minded towards other people’s gender identity, as well as our own, and to see a future for this dream society...

Nolan Tenniscoe

'Red Herring

The theme I went for with this project was a fear of the unknown and a nightmarish environment. The red light is meant to embody the fight or flight sensation one gets when terrified. The darkness engulfs the subjects to highlight the fact that this is a nightmare scenario. I’m basing my image off my own experiences with nightmares. Often I can’t see all my surroundings, hence the black, and I remember my dreams in black and white, hence the figures being a greyish black and white colour. Colour was the main thing that drove my final image turning out the way it did. Originally my plan involved a long hallway, but I think what I had to work with made the final image better. I mean you get the fearful aspect combined with a black and white ominous figure which encapsulates exactly how I think about nightmares.

Rhea Gill

Photographing light was my inspiration as light reflects a great importance in the art community. I wanted to capture light in a unique way, so I represented the beauty of clouds in the sky.

Rick Yvan Vergara

'Soothing Rain'

Every time it rains, I often lose myself in my thoughts. Whether I imagine my memories of the past or my plans for the future. I want to share this type if phenomenon not just in an image but with my own photograph. Rain Photography is artful and dramatic in a sense, because when it rains the lighting of the environment is often gray which gives a substantial feeling, but the rain droplets give a variety of options for a photographer to think of creative ways to make an artistic and poetic image. I took this image off a branch with rain droplets just minutes after the rain stopped. I added a filter on it which makes the droplets the main focus of my image. I selected this certain type of filter to give a magical sensation to my image whenever someone glances upon my photograph. I want everyone to experience this sensation, to lose themselves in their thoughts the same way as I do whenever it rains.

Sierra Omaye

'Catching flights, but not feelings'

When it comes to me personality-wise, I am mostly an outgoing type of person, that goes with the flow, and when photos are involved, I don’t think much about it, I just take whatever catches my eye or what comes into mind for places. My driving force was that I was always intrigued by how photographers did their artwork. Like how Tomb Chambers did his photos, it was like I have seen them before even though I know I never saw them before. Why I chose the content was because I just liked it. There are words that just don’t fit the description of why I like taking photos. It’s like a moving object that is forever in place on a piece of paper that you can keep as long as you want. I would like to show viewers that sometimes plain objects can also inspire those more than complex photos from others. Where there's little to no editing to the picture, like it just shows its own design. With the challenges I had, it was photoshop. Most of the tools I used were very confusing and annoying since they never seem too corporate with me every time, I use them.

Tarn Dosanjh

'Reflections'

Sonder: the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own. This definition was the inspiration for how I explored the theme “Dreamers”. As I self-reflect on my own daily stresses and anxieties, I realize I may forget to say thank-you when someone holds the door open. I may accidentally shove a slow walker or honk at a car for going a little too slow. These small, but negative, actions affect not only how we are perceived by others but also may contribute to their own daily stresses and anxieties. All of our lives are imperfect. We are all burdened with anxieties and stresses that we hide from the world. My dream is that we can all remember everyone is living a life as vivid and complex as our own so we treat each other with compassion. Then everyone can lead happier lives and not feel mentally defeated.

Stephanie May Baladad Nitcha

'Fearing Love in a society'

My photo shows how teenagers these days will not express themselves fully due to fear of judgment from others. It explores the relationship between yourself and society. I wanted to connect the situation I am now with an image I can relate to. As a student myself, I’ve had trouble speaking up and getting attention from others due to a lack of confidence. People tend to keep their feelings to themselves and make an emotional detachment from everybody else. As you can see, this boy is fearful of showing emotions while the girl Is trying to reach out. Seeing white flowers In dreams represents purity and love while blue flowers are a signal for action, urgency, and completion. When you focus too much on yourself and do not pay attention to your surroundings, you might miss the fact that everyone has experienced what you are going through. I want teenagers who are hiding their talents to feel the joy of showing what they can do. I want to show that everyone has the right to their own imagination, and no one should be judged by that. Fear Is a limiting factor, and it is present in all of us, but moving past that fear is essential for success.

Wisma Harris

'Fearing Love in a society'

As an artist, I am interested in creating works of art that call for the participation of the viewer. I wanted to show a different side to dreams since it is usually portrayed as something positive and light. I wanted to illustrate the thought of dreaming in a darker and more negative perspective. Darkness is enclosing the model as he is trying to peer away. As he covers his face, trying to hide the inner darkness within him, you can see it is uncontrolled through his eyes. I would like the viewer to think about inner darkness and temptation and to contemplate how inner darkness and temptation reveal themselves in their own lives