Artist Statement
My work explores how conversations happen and change depending on their context, how viewpoints are altered or withheld depending on the company or the situation of the conversation. In fact, even our own internal dialogue can be difficult based on our past experiences. However, when the environment is non-judgmental or we are allowed to remain anonymous, our authentic opinions are allowed to surface.
Websites such as postsecret.com have been tapping into this phenomena by allowing users to post their secrets online. This cathartic activity allows one to speak unhindered. By incorporating this concept into my own work, I hope to capture a glimpse into the unspoken and withheld.
The female form represents women as keepers of secrets, nurturers of our undisclosed thoughts. They are naked and exposed, yet willingly being used as reliquaries for what we suppress, of what we hesitate to say, of the real conversations that we avoid, whether with ourselves or with others.
I intend to take what we are not saying and make it public, to display what the uncensored has to say. I invite everyone to join in this anonymous ritual, to give their confessions, their secrets, and their fears to these Goddesses, to reflect on what they are saying, and to consider their part in the larger conversation that includes all of our community. I also encourage all who participate to take with them a memento as a reminder of our universal struggle to speak openly without fear being judged.