By Julia Orientale
Volume 68, Issue V

You may know Farhaanah Mohideen as an exceptional student, but the Class of 2018 co-salutatorian is an artistic prodigy as well. A fan of painting portraits, she first became serious about art in her freshman year art class. Mohideen finds inspiration in other artists at Briarcliff High School and says she is motivated to diversify her work from the various art movements and techniques used by other students in the classroom. Currently, Mohideen describes her work as “impressionist-y.” She says in the future she would like to pursue creating more realist paintings but noted she is proud of the fact that Snapchat can recognize her portraits as faces.

Any art student could tell you that participating in AP Art is a formidable task. The course requires a 24-work portfolio which serves as the evaluation: 12 must be part of a breath section (showing various subjects and techniques), and 12 must be part of a concentration section (displaying a unified form of work). Characteristic of Mohideen, she took on the challenge. Her concentration is portraits of children from all over the world. She created many of them from awkward angles to show how adults typically do not see from the child’s perspective.

Mohideen says she wants her art to put a smile on people’s faces. She says she intentionally makes her faces have a smirk or smile so when someone sees them they can not help but smile. She enjoys illustrating her subjects as joyful and resilient since that’s what she admires most about children.