Instropection: Another World

For 20 years I experienced physical, emotional, verbal, and mental abuse at the hands of my biological mother. At an early age I had to face the harsh reality of my situation and develop skills that helped me survive day-to-day, but that left me with a very skewed idea of who I was as a person. But the one thing that I knew for certain about myself was that I loved to create. I would write stories and draw characters as an escape, and as I got older I would build bigger and more elaborate worlds to explore until it turned into my passion. Writing and drawing were an intertwined part of me that I could never be without; everything I wrote had to be drawn and everything I drew had to have a story behind it. Introspection: Another World, is my exploration into who I am, both as a person and as an artist. The central piece in this show is a book, entitled “Introspection”, which features a collection of short stories and illustrations that explore themes of identity, family, self-discovery, and trauma. Some illustrations are a visual representation of what is happening in their story while others are more figurative as an emotional response to their story. These illustrations and these stories serve as a place of healing for me, allowing me to look inside myself and explore who I am and what I once was. As an artist, I’m inspired by the world around me, with things like music, and culture, but movement is a big inspiration for me. I find it interesting seeing movement in texture and trying to create a texture out of movement itself. Junji Ito’s illustrations are what I strive for when I’m creating a piece, something that’s very detailed and that’s moving in some way with the lines. Bob Masse is a designer who’s posters combine Art Nouveau and Psychedelic styles with influence from Alphonse Mucha. His line art and figures have been a major inspiration to my practice. With all this inspiration and a mind full of never ending worlds and stories to explore, I’m putting my true self on display in another world.https://digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/art498/1115/thumbnail.jp