Color is The Suffering of Light
Bachelor of Arts Senior Exhibition | November 2020
Quigley Hall Art Gallery | Western Colorado University
This body of work was shot exclusively on film, with 35mm and 120 negatives, which were printed on transparencies and affixed to glass.
Images stripped of color showcase their inherent allegory, and film as a medium captures lighting and depth surrealistically, giving my subjects divinity along with their suspension in glass, creating an embodied glow.
My subjects are given agency. They transcend worldly ties. They are absolute. They are fearless. They are monumental. They are in synchronicity with the natural world. My images are holy vessels where the living and the dead manipulate the natural world and form impenetrable beings. This body of work sits between the burning kiss of birth and the frigid embrace of death. I want viewers to contrast the feeling of being held for the first time with the weight of experiencing grief from their first loss.
A woman’s nude figure is an expression of her most personal self. Through these images, I present the birth of a woman’s most powerful and most hidden self, and the death of her vulnerable, coveted counterpart. My work is influenced by the artistic feminist revolution during the 1960s and 1970s. As many of these women did before me, I am seeking to redefine how women’s bodies are interpreted.
Some of the negatives have been burned, and some of the prints have been adorned with silver.
Fire symbolizes the line between creation and destruction. It can give life, and it can take it away.
Silver is the balance between dark and light. It is strong, yet malleable, and it can withstand abuse, weathering, and heat.
Here, fire represents birth, warmth, and form, and silver represents the chill of death, pain, and fear.
