Artist Statement
My life has been landmarked by the medical treatments that have traumatized me. We all have one event or another that fundamentally defines who we are, and how we process our daily lives. For myself, it is a period of time from 2008 onwards in which I became dangerously ill, with after effects that I’ll likely have to contend with until the day I die.
Being a minor in the medical system over the age of consent, you are allowed to refuse things that make you uncomfortable. But what if those things are life-saving treatments? Invasive, but crucial procedures? Allowing adults to touch parts of you no one else has before? The understanding that a refusal of your consent could mean your death robs your autonomy, leaves you with hollow innards and static thoughts.
I strove to convey these feelings in my pieces through odd angles and bold colours, to give a sense of unease to the viewer. Each piece in this triptych is representative of a specific surgery I’ve undergone and the perspective of my own emotions and sense of reality while undergoing them.
These works have been done digitally, in part to produce a clear and concise piece, but also to reflect the ways in which modern procedures are documented and viewed with a large assist from technology. They are meant to be partially clinical and distant, the same as patient files. The long and narrow shape of them invites the viewer to glance into a memory without all the details, and draw your own conclusions as to the feelings present.