•My paintings during quarantine took on two themes; first regarding the loss of optimism for the future while longing for the joyful hope of childhood. 2020 has forced me to consider the differences of emotions I have had throughout creating art from early adolescence to today. I drew from vibrant, expressive, pieces I created in middle school and transformed them into the dull, drooping despair I feel currently. Additionally, I find the idea of the future empty, represented by clear white gaps surrounded by deep emotional unrest.

•The other theme I explored is my pained relationship with food. My relationship with self-image began to fluctuate greatly while trapped inside. I began reliving emotions of a long-gone eating disorder. Switching between restriction to binging on unhealthy, mind numbing food. I maintained the detailed images of food with a muddy, mixed background, to show my disorientation surrounding meals and passing time in isolation.

 

•My artwork this year has grown from familiar realistic still life to abstract expressions of emotion, forcing me to discover the ways quarantine has reinforced my familiar tendencies while also pushing me to challenges unfamiliar.