The Maiden Fragments:
In the Maiden Fragment series, I asked my models to choose two areas on their body; one area that they were very confident in or had strongly positive feelings around and one area that was a source of insecurity or strongly negative feelings. Once the areas were chosen I made a silicone mold of each and used them to create these bronze objects. Asking someone to reveal their insecurities before having them take their clothes off so that you can make art from them is a lot to ask and I cannot understate how vulnerable and exposed this can leave someone feeling. At the same time; I as the artist have given up much of the control I am accustomed to having throughout my artistic process and ceded it to the model, leaving me in a vulnerable place outside of my own comfort zone. I do not say this so that either sort of discomfort should be compared. I instead point this out because I believe the totality of that process is important to the nature of sculptures themselves and that engaging in the process with the model in this way was intrinsic to creating a certain dynamic to their presence. They can change from aesthetically pleasing to very uncomfortable and challenging depending on what angle you view them from and this visual duality/complexity is analogous to how we see and judge ourselves and others. I think it’s vastly more interesting if I don’t reveal which sculpture was derived from insecurity and which was cast from an area of confidence, potentially giving the viewer a chance to challenge their own preconceptions about how we view both our own bodies as well as those of others and maybe even how we view how we view these things.