This work is a representation of 6 internal personas that have manifested over the last year+ of quarantine, using a medium that is a new part of my practice (I began carving linoleum in January 2021).
Each hand-rubbed linocut print encapsulates a complementary part of my personality, from structured and productive to messy and spiraling. I am grateful that this time spent at home has allowed me to learn a craft that is now a preferred mode of expression for me.
Each image has a unique name and story:
Occasional Clairvoyant: a depiction of how I feel in those moments of clarity—realizations about the true nature of society and our systems, the world at large, and how we're all connected—that have emerged out of the contemplative nature of the past year.
Bird Peeper: a depiction of me as a Hermit Thrush, one of my favorite birds. They are a fall/winter visitor to the Bay Area, so I only first discovered them in the autumn of 2020. One silver lining of the pandemic is that I've had a lot of time to get outside and see the marvelous diversity of bird species in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Drunk Smokin' Bish: not all personas have been productive; this is a depiction of me in those moments when I craved oblivion... retreating into my destructive habits and vices, unleashing a flood of fatigue and negative emotions.
Structured Non-procrastinator: I was laid off early in the pandemic and found it hard to be creative without a set rhythm or schedule, so I had to devise my own structure. In three distinct month-long exercises during the last year, I followed a rigid schedule to inspire a creative flow.
Midnight Spiraler: a depiction of me losing myself down the rabbit hole, listening to music late at night on the roof and fixating on one thought or idea over and over. The piece is intentionally vague, neither positive nor negative. Not all spirals were bad... some were fun!
Mind Prisoner: not much to explain here—there were many moments of darkness over the last year, the time in isolation forcing me to grapple with my own mind. I re-started therapy though, so that's good.