Cliffannie Forrester, an American has had a big week. On June 14, her painting “Uganda” debuted at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s exhibition P.S. Art 2016: Celebrating the Creative Spirit of New York City Kids. It was just one of the 89 works in the exhibition, chosen from 1,205 submissions by NYC public school students.
On June 15, she tweeted about it, and it went viral:
WHO JUST COMPLETED THEIR LIFE GOAL AT AGE 18? ME. AS OF 6/14/16 MY PIECE IS IN THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART. pic.twitter.com/18ejqWmhvV
— ♡︎ (@cIiffannie) June 14, 2016
ELLE.com spoke to Forrester about her work and the significant attention “Uganda” -her piece has received.
“In 2014, I went on a trip to Uganda with my church as part of a missionary trip to help people in need over there,” she told ELLE.com. “We were going to church and I saw a little girl who was just standing around, admiring everything.” Forrester took a quick snap on her phone, which she showed to her art teacher back in New York, who told the student she should create a painting based on the photograph.
“Uganda” took about a month to finish, and the detailed portrait is an example of the kind of work Forrester likes to do; she likes to “capture an emotion” in her paintings. “She made me feel like I was at ease, or at home,” explained the teenager about her subject, and to convey that same feeling, she changed the background of the photograph to include the wide blue sky and grassy fields we can see in the painting.
Having an artwork in one of the world’s great museums is a great achievement for the teen. “That was my overall goal,” she says of being shown at the Met, and Forrester credits her art teacher, Maria Jimenez, with helping her to get there.
Forrester has said that she wants to become an Artist after she graduates from high School. “Art is important to me because it’s my escape,” she said, “Whenever I feel down, I try to draw, to ease my mind.”
