Six students huddle around three panels of hardboard (the canvas) that span the hallway floor outside Room 206. Each armed with a palette and brush, they paint oranges, yellows, and pinks within the lines of a pencil sketch to form trees, figures, and fireflies. After finishing a tree branch, one student rinses her brush, dries it, and prepares to paint a new section. Another pours and mixes white and blue to make the batch of baby blue for the sky. Here, work on the new female empowerment mural is underway.
Every Tuesday and Thursday for the past year, the Art Club and Female Empowerment Society have worked in tandem to complete a mural for the wall at the end of the math hallway. Since December 2023, both clubs have brainstormed, created, and refined the school’s newest permanent art fixture. In doing so, a clear-cut vision emerged: one that celebrates diverse women and emphasizes the importance of collaboration. The execution of this vision, the mural, will be set up in early March in time for Women’s History Month.
Female Empowerment Society president Alyssa Wong first proposed creating a mural in November 2023. Because the Art Club was also a female-run club, Wong pitched a collaboration so that “all of the different people who are passionate about advocacy [could] work together to create something that would have a lasting impact on our school.”
The Art Club was also inspired by the prospect of leaving a permanent mark on the school, especially one that emphasizes female empowerment. “Having a visual representation of female empowerment in our school helps our message stand out even more. Especially now in these changing times, we should be expressing positive ideas like empowerment more often,” said current Art Club president Lauren Tan.
With the core vision of female empowerment through diversity and collaboration established, the clubs focused on composition and logistics. Early on, the clubs held two bake sales to fundraise for hardwood and paint. That turned out to be the easy part. Creating and choosing a final design was much more challenging than anyone anticipated. Both clubs spent months discussing appropriate symbols, acceptable clothing, and which women to portray until they reached a consensus.
The final design features five faceless female figures, symbolizing the universality of the message and the inclusivity of all women. Moreover, the figures are posing in collaboration, each figure interacting with or aiding another. “We wanted a composition that didn’t just center on one woman or one person, but instead a whole community of women supporting and helping each other,” said Tan.
The composition also features a variety of meaningful symbols and motifs. The five figures are depicted in front of the Tree of Life, symbolizing empowerment and strength. Glowing fireflies dot the mural, each a symbol of hope and illumination supported by the various quotes that blossom across the work.
At the base of the mural, a bold centerpiece quote reads, “First, they’ll ask you why you did it. Then they’ll ask you how you did it.” “[The quote] is about creating your own opportunities and showing resilience and determination,” said Wong. Several other quotes appear on the branches of the central tree, echoing the same messages of empowerment and endurance.
In early January 2024, the Art Club sketched the drafted composition on three wood panels. Members labeled each space with a number corresponding to a specific hue—essentially setting up a color-by-number piece. After pre-mixing the paint, the Art Club planned a Google Sheets calendar for painting days, and members signed up for times to paint.
The female empowerment mural functions as more than an art piece—it is a testament to the power of student advocacy. The mural displays the fruitful labor and collaboration of two powerful, female-led clubs. It reminds students that they can enact change and leave a lasting legacy. Tan said, “If you take some time just in front of the mural, and you read the quote or you really just look at what it’s about…, you can see that it’s actually quite different from the other murals. But it’s different in a way that’s special and important, especially in these changing times.”
