Mary Lange, art teacher at West High in Los Angeles, had a very important goal for theupcoming school year. She wanted her class to be involved in an outreach or community project that would utilize them and their artistic talents. “I talked to my classes about this and mentioned a project that I had seen on the news that described high school artists drawing children from other countries.”

Raechel Wong, West High artist and high school senior, remembered reading about a trip that Stephen Christian (the lead singer of the band Anberlin) went on with his friends in the music industry. “Being a frequent visitor of Stephen Christian’s awe-inspiring blog (modesty.blogspot.com), I couldn’t help but dive into his amazing description of his trip to Haiti. His account of going from the main stage as an artist to the streets of underdeveloped countries completely changed my perception of myself as an American and my ideal of the American Dream. The most prominent idea to me in Stephen’s entries was that every person has a responsibility and the potential to help others, whether it is through a massive movement or a small, simple gesture.”

Inspired by Christian’s words, Wong wanted to be involved with Christian’s next trip to Calcutta, India. “I wanted to incorporate his [Christian] next trip to Calcutta into my mission. Without a plan, I stumbled upon an article that I introduced to the board of West High’s Art Club that explored media coverage of third-world poverty through art. The two ideas were meant to come hand in hand, later giving birth to The Likeness of Love program.” Wong, along with other West High Artists, would hand draw portraits from photographs taken of the children Christian worked with. The hand drawn portraits would then be framed and mailed back to the children of Apne Aap, the school Christian worked in, giving them their very own hand drawn portrait to share with family and friends.

“The results are outstanding. I think it gave West High Artists the opportunity to create art and think about a special person on the other side of the world. The more you look the more you see and by creating these portraits, West High Artists were able to open their hearts and see a Likeness of Love” said Lange. Katie Peters, a West High artist, agreed. “I felt like this project was a way for us to connect with someone we’ll probably never meet. It’s a way to begin building bridges between our cultures and countries– to demonstrate in a visible way the love that you can feel for a complete stranger.” Jonathan Tong, another West High artist, wanted to not only capture the image of the children-but their culture as well. “The project was like gazing into a window at a foreign world within. So many new ideas revealed themselves within the composition. So many wonders and possibilities. The challenge laid within capturing not just the image of the children, but the soul of the culture before us. Through the point of a pencil, the bristle of a brush, and the tip of a marker, we were finally able to join these two worlds into one, resulting in the art that now lies before you.”

Wong does not want the newly started program to end with her graduation. “I hope with all my heart and soul that this project does not sit as a glorious one-time spark in the past of West High; this project was created to fuel inspiration for years and years to come, and it is our intention to keep The Likeness of Love as an annual tradition.”

Because of the energy and passion of some high school artists in California, other students halfway around the world in Calcutta, India, now have memories that will bring hope to their days and will remind them of the love that will continue on throughout the rest of their lives.