Below is the accompanying text for the senior thesis project in 2015 at Smith College. This artist statement was written to summarize the projects during the final semester and explore the intentions and ideas the artists’ work then. It has been modified slightly since 2015 to better reflect or summarize some of the projects.

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IN PURSUIT OF SELF

Senior Artist Statement

Rituals, 2015. Archival pigment prints13 x 19 in.

Rituals, 2015.

Archival pigment prints

13 x 19 in.

 

My work this semester has addressed themes of exposure, representation, and the body. I have worked with making public the private and the intimate, exposing personal moments that are frequently kept to one’s self.

My first project, Rituals, is a book of photographs of self-portraits of myself performing banal, everyday routines. The photographs are shot over the duration of the semester, demonstrating the repetition behind these actions. The idea is to create an intimate space between the viewer and subject (me), where they can begin to think critically of their own day-to-day life.

In my second project, To-Do, I aimed to capture the chaotic nature of my organizational habits. Scribbled post-it notes have been gathered from throughout the school year, sewn together to create a web. The tangled mess represents how these tasks or post-it notes are conceptualized in the mind of the artist, who suffers from a variety of mental/emotional disorders, including ADHD.

Residue of Emotional Moments, the third project, explores the idea of what remains after emotional or psychological experiences. These residues exist in our lives and remind us of what has passed. Some of these residues are permanent, while others can be easily washed away. A tearful call home, a moment of terror, the desire to erase. The large, photographic prints call attention to the small details in the images, such as the fine hairs along the scar or the white-ish color of dried tears.

The performance of Instead of Pressing Charges. (Fuck You Justin Ivey) and the accompanying text expose very vulnerable information and moments. The destruction of something once precious through methodical, repetitious technique is presented as an intense and deeply personal experience. Intimate thoughts from that experience are shared in the text. As I struggle to destroy the face of my assailant, I expose myself by sharing a secret deeply kept.

 
Residue of Emotional Moments, 2015. Archival pigment prints13 x 19 in.

Residue of Emotional Moments, 2015.

Archival pigment prints

13 x 19 in.

Instead of Pressing Charges (Fuck You Justin Ivey), 2015.Performance with single blade razor blade, blood, and oil pastel and pencil drawing. Archival pigment print13 x 19 in.

Instead of Pressing Charges (Fuck You Justin Ivey), 2015.

Performance with single blade razor blade, blood, and oil pastel and pencil drawing.

Archival pigment print

13 x 19 in.

 

I have been influenced by artists such as Adrian Piper and Nan Goldin who have turned the lens on themselves. I have worked with the idea of photographing the self at specific moments, as Piper has done with her work Food for the Spirit (1971). I was compelled by the raw authenticity in Goldin’s photographs and strived to be as honest as possible with my practice. My work is also influenced by diaristic photographers, photographers who take photos on an almost daily basis and capture moments in their lives, creating visual diaries. I believe that I am creating my own visual diary, an index of moments in my life.

I’ve also been influenced by the unflinching rawness of Ana Mendieta’s Rape and Rape Scene (1973) pieces that she made in graduate school. I’ve studied the work of feminist artists like Yoko Ono, Emma Sulkowicz, Tracey Emin, and Ana Mendieta. The authenticity of experience and trauma reflected in many of these artists’ works encouraged me to tell my experiences honestly, without softening them.

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Contemporary Women Abstract Painters: Amy Sillman and Cecily Brown, 2015