The act of writing about my work has forced a deeper reflection, and something has solidified. For years, I had a vague notion that my work was about “the unknown.” But how do you map what you do not know?
The truth is that I could never fully understand my art without training to become a psychotherapist. This and personal therapy gave me the language and knowledge, but mainly my continual interest and need for self-reflecting. Now, it seems clear that my work is about the adaptations we make as children. It feels terrifyingly simple!
I remember being at the RCA reading The Drama of being a child, by Alice Miller; I knew the book connected to my practice, but it felt so blurry. It feels like a premature resolution to a lifelong complication. I don’t want it to look resolved or straight forward when the process of getting to this point is far from that! But maybe definition isn’t a trap. Maybe when the overarching theme is clear, the work itself can finally speak entirely in nuance, complexity, and shadow.
