Noah Burgan Gets Creative Behind the Scenes

Noah Burgan is a 14-year-old trans woman whose art is meant to give the viewer comfort. Her work is versatile in nature but invokes beauty nonetheless.

Her creation was born out of boredom when she began messing with makeup and wax. She created a fake wound to shock her parents, and it’s no surprise they were shocked. The wound really looked real. Her talent blossomed from there, and she became the first officially designated gifted and talented student at her middle school in the Cherry Creek district.

Her creativity bleeds into photography, makeup, painting, and sewing. The inspiration behind her work comes from depicting images of women.

“What inspires me the most is creating images of real women. People who have stretch marks, people who are different, because it’s so boring to just be looking at a painting and seeing this skinny, pretty, white women, when in reality, everyone is different.”

Her queer identity has a large influence on her work. She creates not only for enjoyment, but to come up with images she wishes to see. Items outside of the mainstream fuel Burgan drive to create artwork to represent all people. She also wants to make a career out of this.

“I really do dream of creating something where I can help people, creating clothes where I can help young, trans people and drag queens to feel comfortable, because there are so many times when people are struggling and trying so hard to feel human. I want to be able to give someone a chance to be okay with themselves.”

Burgan grabs her inspiration from people she sees, whether this is at school or simply on the street. She is also able to find the same within herself. Her favorite piece depicts an image of what she wishes to be in the future.

“When I was a little bit younger, I created a piece of what I wanted to look like. It’s this young girl who is closing her eyes, and she’s covered in gold. She is just happy, because she is who she is.”

Even through magnificent creation, mishaps are inevitable. The difficulty Burgan runs into is thinking too much. Having an idea in your head to transfer to a physical form can cause roadblocks. Nitpicking to make sure the work is perfect has proven to be a struggle.

“I feel like sometimes I get in my head, because I want to create something so when people look at it, they can relate to it. If I can, give someone a minute of their time to look at something and to give them comfort or a smile on their face.”

Striving to show the differences and similarities of people in Burgan’s work is nothing outside of divine. The messages in her work are all about confidence and comfort within one’s own skin.

All art provided by Noah Burgan