Naked, Not Nude.
NAKED 2019

NAKED is a performance and visual arts show put on annually at Quest University Canada. The show itself, as well as the creation process leading up to the show, creates a space for womxn and female aligned folks to share their stories and have their voices heard. The loose theme of this years show was “Framed“. This piece was inspired by a photo taken of me and my friends at the Sloquet Hot Springs in British Columbia, Canada.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Photographs aren’t as much a reflection of their objects as they are a reflection of the observer. So when I look at images of myself, they feel foreign. I get caught up by the curves of my body, the ripples in my skin, that one strand of hair that refused to cooperate and suddenly my beautiful memory has been corrupted. Photos often make me feel nude; stripped of my complexity and the opportunity to ‘justify’ what I see as my flaws.
This painting serves as an improved representation of me and my experience of this moment. Rather than nude, I feel naked: vulnerable because I am choosing to be, not because my body has been put up for display.