Baby (The Arrow Hits Its Target)
Mixed media
44" x 56"
I am only as good as my suffering
Mixed media
44" x 65"
Diving into the intricate maze of antinatalism, social normalcy, and anxiety, Malignantly Useless is a triptych exploring the morality of procreation in a world fraught with societal suffering, and the longing to return to a state of nonbeing.
In Emil Cioran’s book, The Trouble with Being Born, he states that: "The burden of consciousness is an unbearable weight." Through birth we are forced into consciousness, pain, suffering, and, ultimately, death. When combining this problem with the effects of conditions like anxiety, everything is magnified, through the moral errors of genetic and collective principles.
In this series of work, baby portraits and stream-of-consciousness musings combine with severed and debased canvases, to reflect a sense of depression and anxiety. Portraits are erased and canvases slashed. Through utilizing elements of destruction, the viewer can experience the eternal struggle to seek comfort in the void and ultimately come up wanting.
By investigating the intimate moments of self-abnegation and vulnerability one experiences within society’s structure, we can understand the profound sense of despair and alienation that often accompanies depression. Furthermore, we can confront the burden of imposed consciousness, and empathize with the desire to shield any future living being from itself.
Digital & film photography, canvas, tempera paint, spray paint
2024