“Detention” is my meditation on the quiet rebellion and restless creativity of adolescence. At first glance, it’s simply a photograph of four ordinary acoustic ceiling tiles; their bland, utilitarian surface marred by the idle etchings, graffiti, and carvings of teenagers. Hearts, flung pencils, initials, and doodles - each mark is a fleeting moment of youthful expression These tiles, typically overlooked and sterile, become an outlet for frustration, longing, and rebellion.

The work speaks to the tension between institutional conformity and the uncontainable energy of youth. Each mark reflects a moment of boredom, resistance, or yearning—a microcosm of the emotions bubbling beneath the surface of high school life. These ceilings, in their intended purpose, are meant to absorb sound and stifle distraction, yet they inadvertently record the echoes of countless young lives. They are artifacts of suppressed expression, adorned by teenagers trying to leave their mark and claim a small piece of a system that so often ignores them.

I invite the viewer to imagine the stories behind these marks: the names carved with care, the hearts scratched in haste, the doodles born of restless hands. It asks us to reflect on how spaces intended to discipline and control can become vessels of unintentional creativity and resistance.

“Detention” is a reminder of the universal desire to be seen, to leave a mark, no matter how fleeting or insignificant. It captures the duality of adolescence: a time of confinement and structure, but also of unbridled imagination and defiance. In these ceiling tiles, we see not just the bored delinquent, but the artist, the dreamer, and the human being, striving to carve their presence into the world (or at least their classroom).