...Influenced by sexuality and trauma – both personal and generational trauma
relating to my experiences as a Latin American woman. Throughout my time at NE Sculpture, I have spent my hours in the studio dedicated to further honing these concepts and how I may be able to physically manifest these ideas in a delicate yet visceral manner. I aim to cultivate an intimate world where the viewer is confronted by childhood innocence and the dark recesses of
the adult soul. Bright pastels or soft details that become corrupted by questions of the body. For Habeas Corpus I have created a series of paintings and sculptures that encapsulate my interest in these juxtapositions as I think deeply about the concept of memento mori. While also challenging myself as an artist to create without limits, knowing that every artwork I make here cannot come back home with me to Canada. The three paintings are of vintage Rushton toy dolls, popular in the 1950s and 60s, delighted to be in the presence of raw flesh. For me, they are a true look at how childhood and adulthood interact with one another as innocence becomes consumed by the carnage. The paintings also serve as a confrontation with mortality. The series of sculptures vary in media and have religious, sensual, violent, and delicate undertones throughout. A crucifixion with a detached neck, bloodied, yet feminine and divine. A dresser adorned with fleshy, unsettling chalices and eight teeth demanding you to get on your knees, to pray or for sexual pleasures, only to find a nailed hand at the bottom. The purest vision of martyrdom. A crying children’s rocking horse, with deep slashes on its body and the sensuality of lace framing them. A dirty, used pillow, presenting the viewer with a bruised, disfigured limb with vibrant plastic flowers and earthy deceased insects, the ultimate memento mori still life. Visions of glistening flesh, hair, pearls, crystals, and gold. All of this is what having a body means to me.
