In late 2007 my sisters and I were deeply involved in a conversation about body image. Like many women, we seem to be uncomfortable with ours. We all have some vague idea of what we should look like, an ideal that we will never achieve. We spoke about how difficult it is to really see ourselves. I started this series with the questions: Why is (a)the human form so beautiful, and (b)why can’t I see that beauty in myself? I envisioned 2 parts, the first part was about deconstructing the body, taking the human form drawn from life and turning it into works that are about the lines and the shapes. I feel that these lines and shapes are something that we intuitively recognize and appreciate even when their origin is not so obvious, that the lines of the figure have a beauty of their own apart from the whole.The 2nd part was to be about deconstructing my body. The pieces based on self-portraits. My challenge would be to see my image differently, altering my perception of myself, hopefully in a positive way.
They say don’t tell God your plans. As I was working on these pieces, a funny thing happened – my process started to eclipse my original concept. The pieces started to talk to me about layers and reality on both a conceptual and process level. I began making more prints and adding in inkjet copies that just seemed to blur the line a little more. The direction of the project is constantly shifting within the original parameters, just not in the original direction.
My self portrait project was never done.
My process consists of taking life drawings and turning them into plates by applying layers of wax and then carving into them. I break up the picture so I have multiple plates and then I print these images many times. I embellish them with oils and mixed media. I combine them in different ways to produce multiple pieces from one original image.
