Katie • 15 • Dublin

My name is Katie Leonard, and my peace is called “living my dream” it represents how are imaginations change over the years from playing pretend out in yard to imagining your future career and life The past The bottom right and middle left side of the piece represent some of my earliest memories as a kid playing knights and princesses turning a paper towel roll into a telescope or a fierce sword a cardboard box into a home. These are some of my favourite childhood memories. The present In the centre of the piece is a self-portrait. The paint brush making me who I am and how I live my life the shirt is bright and fun as that's who am, while also showing off my funky earrings The future On the top of the canvas sits three portraits of myself and three of the hopes I have for the future The top left portrait is of me graduating. Growing up I was diagnosed with a learning disability called dyslexia. This made it a big struggle to keep up in class no matter how hard I tried, I always felt like I was behind the other students. I was very self-conscious about my writing and still am today. When I was about eleven I went to St. Roses a school for dyslexic kids like me. You couldn’t imagine how much this school changed my life, if any of my old teachers are reading this thank you for making me the woman I am today. I am now in third year and working towards my Junior Cert. thanks to there support I know I will pass my Junior and leaving cert with flying colours. The top right of the canvas is me in scouts. Alongside art, scouts is one of my biggest passions and this year will mark ten years of me being in scouts. Scouts has helped shape my curiosity and adventurous spirit. I've gotten to see and experience things many people don't. I learned how to help and take care of people during my time as a patrol leader. Not to mention the people I've met and became friends with, some of them are like family to me so I like to imagine that even if it's years down the line I'll still be part of scouts as a leader, still hiking, still exploring and learning. that's what I want for my future. The top middle is my art, my lifeline. So much imagination goes into each piece and so much love and commitment goes into my art. I want to make art for the people to enjoy. I want to be what young girls look up to. To tell them that it's not all about books and protractors, that there's so much more to life. Art tells stories but not all stories are tragedies. I just want my story to be remembered.