I wanted a universal message that could morph and connect to anyone, regardless of their age, race, experience etc. My goal is for anyone to be able to walk up to my work and feel a connection to it. When someone feels a connection, the work then truly comes alive. It's not just an image on some paper, it's raw and real to them and it impacts their reality.
I think a lot of the media today depicts pain as its main focus for one reason: to distract individuals from their pain. News, tabloids, and drama TV shows spotlight the pains and traumas of the world so audiences are shocked and impacted by others' pain rather than their own. Beauty and fashion underhandly is displayed by the media as glamorous and happy. So audiences use it as a defence to stark their reality of trauma out of conscious awareness.
I've chosen a different subject matter for each painting that symbolizes the imagery I connect each pain with. Heart -> Breakup, Snake -> Sickness, Atomic Bomb -> War/Terrorism. Both roles of the audience as the victim and the shoe as the victim are explored. Audiences use the shoe to distract them from their pain, and the pain is also so dominant it overwhelms the beautiful distraction and consumes the shoe. I wanted to depict a shocking/gruesome mood that would push itself into the memories of the audience.
