Shaharaim Gill, Capstone

When we moved to the new building I couldn’t help but notice the bare walls. At the old building on 22nd and Arch, the walls were covered in paintings and student expression. 2 years after the move, after asbestos and after a pandemic the new school building still didn’t feel like SLA. In March I interviewed students, 100% of students interviewed said that a mural would make the new SLA building feel more like home. After that survey, I was sure that a mural had to be painted. The mural was painted by mostly seniors and freshmen. I designed it based on parts of the SLA experiences. The whales in the mural are based on my favorite mural in Philadelphia which was the whale mural near the Schuylkill River Trail. The mural ended up being 8ft by 10ft and was painted using acrylics on masonite panels. After lots of hard work by not only me but the SLA community, the mural was finished. I hope that this mural inspires other artists at SLA and helps make the new building truly feel like SLA. I also hope it shows what happens when people come together as a community to create something that will leave a legacy. Thank you to Braskem who helped fund this project.

Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Sb1LGF-tBWEL8SguLKSPqpplGPKNFCAzr2lWmtg-MYQ/edit?usp=sharing

For my capstone, I wanted to create a product that caters to curly hair. Throughout my natural hair journey I have come across many products that made bold claims, but they missed the mark on my hair type and thats how this idea for my capstone came to be. Many of these products are loaded with ingredients such as silicones and alchohls but I wanted to create a product that cuts out those 20 letter word ingredients while still having the positive benefits of the formula. To do this I researched what elements were essential in a product including humectants (substances that retains moisture), oils, and butters. Through trial and error with test batches I’ve slowly but surely come to know how important of a role ratios play in hair care, just because an ingredient is good on paper it doesn’t translate to its order on the ingredient list. For my final product I feel I have made an affordable natural alternative to off the shelf brands.

Link to Biblography : https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FiLFlPVssDxwrvDtmibEj_dEffH0xMARnSl7CntKVTA/edit?usp=sharing>