Ariel Kivela (康若琳)
 
康若琳 
 
Oil on canvas 
 
My Chinese name is 康若琳 (Kāng Ruòlín).

In high school, my Chinese teacher, 李老师, asked everyone to bring the meaning of their English name to class.

Ariel: Lion of God (strength and divine protection, Hebrew),
Christen (follower of God, Norwegian)
Kivela (rock, Finish)

When she gave me my Chinese name, I put it into Google Translate and it said something like: “healthy like a forest.” Frankly, I was not thrilled. The other girls got names like “beautiful flower” or “pretty peach.” Meanwhile I got... forest vitamins?

After living in China and Taiwan, so many people told me my name was 很好听 beautiful sounding, natural, authentic. Over time, I learned that 康若琳 means something closer to: healthy, abundant, and beautiful like a jade forest.

Now it feels perfectly 合适.

This was the first oil painting I ever made with my Chinese roommate, Tong Tong, at 雲南大學 (Yunnan University) in Kunming, China. She was an artist, which is pretty rare in China because of the 高考, an the exam that often determines your major and fate. We used to sneak into the art building at night and paint until midnight. She couldn’t speak much English, and my Chinese was terrible, but we were inseparable. Since COVID, we haven’t been able to stay in touch much because of proximity & censorship.
 
@arielkivela, @captainkeevs
 
 $1300