Future project...
focusing on the turbulent stage of regeneration and transformation
Each sculpture in this series features a figure in its most difficult moment.
Each figure is an anonymous, nude woman - the woman is not any particular person. She could be anyone of us. Spurred by suicide statistics and my own personal experiences, I strive to articulate and give a voice to the widespread, hushed suffering of many.
This work combats our culture’s “forced positivity” in times of trauma and grief. It serves as a sorely needed reminder that emotional responses are a spectrum.
Living in the Midwest, there is a social expectation to remain positive. This is known as “forced positivity”. It is the concept that those who live in a first world nation have little to no reason to feel sad or upset. The sentiment is that “things could always be worse”. To feel bad is a lack of gratitude. To openly express it is even worse because it taints the collective good. The truth is, no matter who you are, it is devastating to lose someone you love. It hurts to struggle with addiction or mental health disorders. For a decade, I had to mitigate anxiety, depression, and PTSD. Suffering cuts across demographics. This period in human history is referred to by researchers as “the tyranny of positivity”.
Moreover, there is tremendous pressure to gracefully weather those difficult moments. To misstep, especially around others, is shameful. However, there is not one single example in nature of regeneration or transformation that is graceful or subtle. In some cases, an organism risks destroying itself in the process. We hold ourselves to standards we cannot possibly attain.
Update...
This body of work is in the preliminary stage and requires further experimentation. I'm currently experimenting with surface treatments, glass casting techniques (using bottle glass), and logistics of creating figurative work on a very large scale.