We’re thrilled to bring you the incredible work of two New York City Teens! An art portfolio by Lola Simon and the debut poetry of Carol Brahm-Robin.

“My artwork focuses on desexualizing the female form.
In high school, faced with dress codes, I often found myself being told to put on a jacket because I was wearing a tank top on a hot day, when the boys in my class weren’t asked to do the same. I became uncomfortable with aspects of myself I couldn’t change. My junior year of high school, I took my first figure drawing class. Drawing the models, I gained a new perspective: the female body is beautiful and natural. I began drawing colorful illustrations of the body in order to further explore this theme.” – Lola Simon

Lola Simon is a senior at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School in New York City, where she majors in visual art. Her favorite color is yellow and her favorite artist is Yayoi Kusama. In addition to creating her own art, she enjoys museums, and has interned at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim Museum. She will attend Brown University in the fall.

Purple

 By Carol Brahm-Robin 

 I woke 
 sunken deep
 in a world of
 Purple
  
 What a nice
 dream
 swathed in mulberry hue  
  
 Nobody
 i could see
 Except for 
 Purple
  
 i was alone with it
 Lavender dream
  
 It wrapped its arms around me
 Pulling me further
 into plum
  
 I breathed it in
 orchid in my lungs
 Too deep now
 I Tried to inhale
 only Purple
  
 Only Purple now
 I was alone 
 in amethyst chains
  
 deep in a violet embrace
 Drowning in Purple 

Carol Brahm-Robin is a young writer who lives in Brooklyn with her parents and two cats. She enjoys poetry and cartooning. “Purple” is her first publication.