Transitions: Art Study and Self-portraiture
Transitions is a living study of self portraiture that turns becoming into art in real time, where the particular opens to the universal and we all find ourselves on the way.
Transitions WIP
I work in collage, acrylic, ink, graphite, charcoal, pastel, and text, and I bring in paper fragments, photo transfers, fabric, stitching, and encountered materials. I am drawn to mediums that can be torn, shattered, shredded, ground into dust, scraped, dissolved, and joined again, because the act of breaking and reassembling is part of how I understand becoming as well.
Transition becomes transitions, and then we are all included. A shared group of people encountering similar joy and suffering in becoming who we are meant to be. Yes, you. Yes, me. Yes, all of us. Yes, people who disappear me without ever meeting me. Yes, those who left me behind because I became who I am. And Yes, those who have been on my side. And Yes, those who have protected my name and my dignity. Yes, those who could care less. And Yes, of course, those who want to collect all their pieces, every last one, and come sit with me.
Transitions WIP
This is my work in progress. The paintings shown here are yet to be titled and may change as the series evolves.
I am building Transitions in public, in community. I am studying an extensive reading and viewing list from Disabled, Black, Latinx, and Queer artists and thinkers, sharing learnings and reflections on Dada Breach, and creating preparatory pieces that shape the final works.
Layers are removed and added, colors shift, edges meet and separate, and the image learns to live again in a new form. And art becomes us and we become art, connection. This is how the show grows, through wide reading, public thinking, and materials that let the body of the work become it unfolds.
