Repressions
This series of photographic works possesses a clean, contemporary and minimalist, white-on white aesthetic. Each of the ten photographs in the series depicts a partial view of a woman either releasing various objects, or interacting directly with the frame. The white exhibition frames are not merely formal devices, but active participants in the minor performances of the artworks. The treatment of the frames, and the subject’s engagement with the surfaces of the photographs, connotes a consciousness of the invisible confines of the medium. Viewed individually the variation in objects contained in each work may seem open to loose interpretation, but collectively, one is able to piece together a unifying thematic thread. Three of the works contain pills, which, thanks to the descriptive titles, we are able to identify as being used to treat pain, anxiety, and depression. Other objects like eggshells and flower petals may suggest a sense of fragility or sensitivity while being intuitively linked to the idea of the feminine, as does the text rendered in nail lacquer. The more “active” works suggest states of struggle, desperation, isolation, and even anger. Evidently, there is more to this series of work than a critique on the 2D tradition of the photographic medium.
The long-term effects of trauma and child abuse can reach far into adulthood causing decades of depression, anxiety, complex PTSD, panic disorder and devastating effects on physical development and health. The body holds a memory of traumatic events, and though typically repressed, tend to seep out in unexpected ways. As a woman carries these invisible effects with her to school, work, and into relationships, the results can be far more harmful to her chances for success and survival than that of gender inequality. Addressing these invisible barriers, remnants from the photos spill over from the image and into frame just as repressed memories from the past spill out into the present.
The long-term effects of trauma and child abuse can reach far into adulthood causing decades of depression, anxiety, complex PTSD, panic disorder and devastating effects on physical development and health. The body holds a memory of traumatic events, and though typically repressed, tend to seep out in unexpected ways. As a woman carries these invisible effects with her to school, work, and into relationships, the results can be far more harmful to her chances for success and survival than that of gender inequality. Addressing these invisible barriers, remnants from the photos spill over from the image and into frame just as repressed memories from the past spill out into the present.
Featured in SAD MAG, March 2016
