Grace will graduate from Texas A&M University in December of 2023 with a Bachelors of Science in Visualization from the School or Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts with minors in Museum Studies and English (Creative Writing). She is an Undergraduate Research Scholar with Texas A&M and a Junior Resident Fellow with the Center for Khmer Studies in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
She is an avid writer, though currently unpublished, with most of her stories containing an element of spookiness usually without being outright horror. The Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline are her favorite movies.
Grace adores folklore of all cultures, particularly ghost stories, and possibly knows a bit more about Halloween lore than she should. Her obsession since 2019 has been Cambodian folklore. For the research side of her undergraduate thesis at Texas A&M, she is studying how the Khmer Rouge regime of 1975-1979 influenced the representation or lack thereof of the Cambodian diaspora.
For the creative aspect of her thesis, Grace is creating an animatic short inspired by Cambodian mythology. Follow her progress and see what else she is doing on her blog NEAKSAI.COM
Artist Statement
Storytelling is my way of making sense of the world and my place in it. The things I enjoy making reflects this.
I am a writer and artist who loves fantasy and serial storytelling. Most of my work leans toward darker fantasy or horror although I am not interested in the visceral at all. My personal projects usually have something to do with folklore. My favorite genre can probably be described as “children’s horror”; dark but nothing too gross. I like spooky. Aesthetically, both storytelling and visually, I would say that LAIKA Studios is the best aligned with my aesthetics.
For visual art, I’m a story artist and concept artist who’s inspired by the style and storytelling of animated films such as those made by LAIKA studios mentioned above and from Disney’s Renaissance and Post-Renaissance eras.
Other art and artists I’m inspired by:
Alphonse Mucha