Artist Statement
Shadows in the Night
Shadows in the Night is a series based one of my many nightmares. This nightmare brought up emotions that are visualized through different scenarios. Symbolic elements and stylistic choices are inspired by paintings of Pardhan Gonds, the Indigenous people living near Madhya Pradesh in Central India. My work refers to the charming use of flora and fauna within these illustrations of ancient folklore. I chose two visually contrasting symbols: fire to communicate danger, entrapment, and fear; flowers to talk about loss (lily of the valley), death (chrysanthemum), innocent silence (rose), and anxiety (forget-me-not).
Shadows in the Night uses colored pencils on watercolor paper, cut and mounted on wooden panels. The Japanese paper was used to create the frame around the illustration.
Through this series, I want to show viewers that our subconscious can reveal the past through bottled-up feelings from our childhood and how these feelings can still affect our adult lives.