Sorina Condon Wins Art Award for Second Time

Sorina Condon, a 2023 SHS graduate and a talented member of the Scituation staff, has won the Massachusetts Association of Mental Health art award for the second year in a row.  

The association’s annual art contest challenges students to portray and highlight mental health for teens. Contestants can submit a video, painting, or any piece of art that explores their personal or general ideologies and experience with mental health. The criteria must relate to the subject and describe how it relates to mental health. 

The first-place winner receives a prize of $250. 

Contestants submit their art pieces in April; more than 100 students presented a piece this year.

Condon’s award-winning entry, a watercolor titled “Bored of Myself,” expresses her experience with mental health. The piece depicts a bird’s eye view of her bedroom and multiple stages of emotions. The intense imagery invites viewers to experience more than meets the eye. Condon accomplished this personal view by securing her phone to her ceiling and posing herself in multiple areas to show the isolation and hardship that can come with mental health problems. 

Condon said, “I wanted to feel like whoever saw it was inside my room.” 

Condon is wearing the same gray pajama set throughout each pose in the picture, leading viewers to imagine different stages of the same night–and the complexity of mental health. Condon said Japanese artists inspired the stylized nature of the piece. In particular, patterns in the fabric of her comforter resemble those of Japanese prints.

Condon’s piece depicts a shared experience among many students: the struggle of holding the world on their shoulders while attempting to heal themselves as more pressure is added. 

Condon will continue to pursue her interest in art and design at the college level. In the fall, she will attend the American University of Paris, where she will be majoring in International Business and Fashion.