Artist Statement
Whenever victims of sexual assault come forward, the same question always appears. Should we allow this one act (or series of actions) to ruin the rest of the assailant’s life? A criminal record can obviously influence their chances at employment, housing, and future relationships. This points out the lasting effects of being accused of sexual assault, but it doesn’t address the lasting effects of surviving rape. It considers time, and asks whose time is more valuable.
As a survivor of sexual abuse, I’ve put in that time. In my art I take the time to emphasize the time I spent and continue to spend overcoming the abuse I suffered. I record how often I interact with my trauma, and how I have to use my time. Printmaking is slow. It’s a labor-intensive and time consuming practice that can involve a significant amount of tedious, mindless work. I get to spend this time processing the image I’m working with, and in this body of works I can reflect on the steps I’ve taken to recover after my assault. The carving of the blocks becomes a meditative act, connecting me to my body, and what space I allow others to take up within myself. Once you’ve committed the initial time to produce the image, you can produce duplicates easily, and share the work with more people. I’m drawing on this aspect of printmaking to present more people with this reality of assault, straight from a victim’s mouth.
The images I carve depict myself, my figure, or imagined bodies compiled from pieces of my own. My art is about my experience with sexual trauma and my recovery process, and the specifications of my struggles don’t apply to others in the same way so superimposing the topic on alien bodies would be disingenuous. I use thick lines to give my prints form. The style mimics heavily-weighted and precise ink drawings. My prints feel like drawings done with thick pens, but with more time and care embedded beneath the blank spaces in each image. I use colored ink, because colorful images can be easier to spend extended time with. My recovery is hard, and takes time, but the progress I’ve made is amazing, and that pride and self-love shines through the pigments I choose.