Artist Statement
ANIMA
For awhile now I’ve felt like I have lost a part of myself, like I grew out of something without realizing. The more I thought about my younger self, the more it felt like I couldn’t relate to her. I wondered when I learned I shouldn’t smile with my teeth, when I learned it was bad to take up space. I wanted to understand how I grew into who I am now, how my “Self” changed. I think that while your Self can be infinitely changing, your heart grows. It doesn’t change, the vessel holding it does. I wanted to show the versions of myself that have and will carry my heart, from life into death. My four pieces are some of these different vessels; Life, Death, Myself Then, and Myself Now. Preserved butterflies and taxidermy were the best way for me to represent this idea of growth and life-in-death, which is why I used bug-like and bird-like features in all my pieces. I didn’t want anything to look human, I wanted it to appear magical and dream-like. I made these pieces for myself; for my younger self to know that growing up is okay, and for my older self to one day remember where we started.