Cheong Yin Ywan Jillian

Theme: Gratitude in Action

School Category, 2025

Artist statement:

My artwork visualises how a deep gratitude for an organ donor can transform into a vibrant, living act. The piece centres on a young girl in a billowing hospital gown, barefoot and serene, standing atop a glowing ground shaped like an anatomical heart. This heart-shaped earth represents both the donor’s gift and the foundation of new life it creates — a ground upon which hope and advocacy now grow. She is the recipient of a donor's heart, which she now holds near her chest. Powerful light rays emerge from this heart, serving as a central source of endless light and representing the gratitude and love from others that forms as a result of the donor's selfless gift. From this heart of light emerges a butterfly, mirroring the colours of the heart as a symbol of the donor. Though physically separate from the girl, the butterfly’s presence is one with her shadow, representing how the heart may not be biologically her own, yet both donor and recipient are inseparable now as they make an impact together, reminding us that the donor’s legacy lives on through the recipient.

Surrounding the girl is a flourishing garden of fantastical flora, featuring plants merged with donatable organs: kidney beans hang from trees, liver-shaped leaves curl through the greenery, eyes bloom in flowers, and roses shaped like hearts burst with colour. This garden which spatially expands outwards from the central heart symbolises the effective advocacy that is grown and nourished by the gratitude toward the donor. The plants translating this light into growth reflects how the donor's sacrifice becomes a source of continued giving for other patients. Therefore, radiating ribbons of colour and light visually trace the ripple effect of this single act of donation. What begins as a personal act of giving grows outward—into advocacy, awareness, and inspiration. The garden is not only beautiful, but purposeful. It stands as a living testimony to how one selfless act can cultivate a movement, where recipients and their communities transform gratitude into meaningful action—spreading kindness, encouraging organ donation, and offering new beginnings to others.

About the Artist

Cheong Yin Ywan Jillian, 16
Raffles Girls' School (Secondary)