Preview
Creation Date
2022
Description
Materials: Inkjet Print
Dimensions: 38 x 30 inches
Project Advisor: John Shimon
Year of Graduation: 2022
Medium
Photography
Rights
Copyright for this work is held by the artist.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
COinS
Artist Statement
The ability of the female body to create life is a unique power. As with any power, there are those who possess it, those who do not, and those who desire it. There exists a desperate struggle to exert control over women’s reproductive rights in an attempt to maintain the patriarchal hierarchy and current systems of power.
Throughout my life, I have observed how these human rights continue to be treated as a debate. My sense of autonomy has been threatened and I, alongside many other women, live with a constant undercurrent of fear. For years I have watched men debate on television, wondering if, or when, I will lose jurisdiction over my physical body or suddenly become deprived of my personal choice. Within these photographs, I examine the dark side of these twisted emotions, ever persistent but hushed, the horrors masked by the miracle of birth.
Underwater film photography is an abstract yet fitting medium: the depth of its difficulty mirrors the intensity and surreal quality of the subject matter. In exploring my fears, I am not exploring something physically real, but imagined and enigmatic. The way water distorts and reflects light, and its dichotomy of both beauty and danger mirrors my internal conflict. This volatile photographic process represents more than just the beauty of the underwater world, but the journey into fear- a place where you hold your breath, but can’t stay for long.