A Gift from Us to You with ARISING

ARISING is a freelance graphic designer and artist. She’s gracing our screens this month with her playful and bright artwork. Her recent work has been packed with type, heavy use of textures, gradients, and saturated colour. Through her practice – you can see Jena share words of encouragement and find power in vulnerability through her work while empowering and inspiring her online community.

Hi Jena! We're so excited to have your work as a little gift to our community for the month of love - for those who aren't familiar with you, do you mind introducing yourself?

Not at all! ☻ Hi! This is ARISING by Jena, and I’m a freelance graphic designer and artist. I love to work with colorful gradients and uplifting words. I’m currently an Interior Design student at the University of the Philippines Diliman, and if I’m not doing any kind of design work, I study astrology and watch/read anime!

For February, our monthly intention is on love (specifically self-love and platonic love), we know that this topic is very close to your heart - what's a lil moment that made you feel loved recently?

I guess this small moment would be the times when I would video call with my closest friends and we would catch up on each other as much as we can. It’s just something I really appreciate, especially when they’re my friends of about 10 years or so. I feel loved when we listen to each other talk, when they feel sad with me because they know I’m having a tough time, or when they celebrate opportunities with me.

What was your process while creating this month's tech art?

For Enough, they were the words I told myself when I saw how much appreciation I grew in myself from the past years. I used to cling on getting validation from others, so it feels so freeing to see myself as a complete entity for the first time in my life.

Like The Sun was a mantra I came up with last year when I got into tarot card reading. The Sun is one of my favorite cards because it just symbolizes so much warmth and light to me. It was so encouraging that I wanted to embody the same radiance in myself, hence “I feel like the sun.”

Dabbling into platonic love, Thankful encompasses how I feel for my friends, I’m so thankful they simply exist in my life. I added some cute handwritten messages, which shows the small but genuine ways or words we can be affectionate to our friends, especially now that we’re still in the middle of a pandemic and that most of us are apart. There’s only so much we can do, like doing mini check-ups on your friends, or sending them memes. I hope my friends, or even yours, would know that this is how we’re saying “I love you” to them.

What do you hope people feel when they see your work?

In general, I always hope people would feel “seen” when they come across my works. My works revolve around the topics of introspection, self-empowerment, and a sense of community. Yes, there’s been a surge on expression of outward and inward compassion during the past year, but it’s still a work in progress. That’s why as much as possible, I use really honest words in my works, and harmonious graphics that tie well along with my messages, so that when people see them, they would feel like, “Wow so others feel/think like this, too”, and somehow, I hope they’d find power in that realization.

How would you describe your personal practice?

Both my artistic messages and pace are vague in essence—my art conveys mostly abstract content like feelings, then with my work pace, it fluctuates because it largely depends on my mood or if I feel myself aligned in a way with the project I’m working on. Despite how turbulent this all sounds, I actually find myself most grounded when I create like this. I get to physicalize my genuine thoughts and feelings into graphics, and because of this, I’m also able to connect with other people and even things like nature since flowers, butterflies, and celestial bodies are common elements to my works.

We're always curious to see what our artists listen to, what's on your playlist for February?

Ooh playlists, I love making playlists I have so many! I’ll just choose my current favorites from the lot of ‘em: