Identity is a topic that has always permeated throughout my work. Through different explorations I have began to form an anthropological self-portrait as well as a visual diary of my many differing thoughts, opinions and sentiments about myself. By combining elements of Printmaking, Fashion and Sculpture I am examining the many facets of my personality.
“Uranus is… both a girl and a guy…she has the strength and personalities of both genders.” - Naoko Takeuchi. Sailor Moon. 1995.
By incorporating techniques used by artist Naoko Takeuchi I create narrative pieces that convey a sense of ethereal ambiguity that plays on the idea of femininity by using delicate lines, lace pattern and sylph-like figures. These women are not “damsels in distress” but intrepid, pride full and confrontational harbingers that embody typically masculine traits.
“ My skin is yellow. My hair is long. Between two worlds, I do belong. My father was rich and white, he forced my mother late one night…what do they call me…my name is Saffronia." -Nina Simone. Lyrics from Four Women. 1966.
In the course of my exploration, themes of ethnicity began to be incorporated into my work. By exploring my own dual identities I began to research my familial origins and used figures representative of different cultural origins. I focused on imagery that based my history on matrilineal lines and emphasized the role of women as the underpinning of my existence.
As I continue to construct imagery representative of my different identities, I feel that I have found myself in a state of equilibrium and comfortable with my understanding of my sexuality, ethnicity and gender tropes. In my own work the female form is a constant used to represent different aspects and avatars of myself. She is heraldic, strong and the epicenter of her universe, but she is alone in all of her surroundings and seems to be consumed by everything around her. These works are all visual recordings of the amalgam of thoughts, moments and many different moods that come across in the span of my disquisition on my trek to self-discovery.
