About Annafeifei Willman

Description of Me

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My name is Annafeifei Willman, I am currently a sophomore at San Jose State University. I had a strong interest in art even when I was very young, and this interest later turned into my passion. When I realized that art is something I wanted to make into a career, I started taking it more seriously, putting a lot of time and effort into my practice across a variety of mediums. These included traditional art, digital illustration art, digital video art, and algorithm art, and I have continued working in all of these mediums to this day.

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My art practice is inspired mostly by human emotions, especially strong and conflicting emotions. For example, my piece Used was inspired by the feeling of being trapped and losing control of oneself. I expressed this feeling by drawing a broken doll. The doll has flowers growing out of its chest, though a hand is about to pull them out. The piece represents how a person’s hope is exposed and at risk when they lose control over their situation. I hope that my art can evoke a sense of sensitivity to the vulnerabilities of others in my viewers.

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To summarize the point, empathy is a main inspiration in a lot of my artwork and I try to encourage people to feel it on the inside from the images I create. I think a big problem affecting people’s ability to feel empathy today is social media, as it intensifies the feeling of detachment from reality, causing a significant increase in stress and anxiety, especially in the Gen Z generation. Sometimes I also experience these kinds of negative emotions, but I feel that I have learned to regulate them more effectively by channeling them into works of art, and this has had a positive impact on my art practice and mental well-being.