This piece started out as a way for me to practice folds in fabric and turned into an expression of a sense of depersonalization within myself. I don’t always feel connected to my body and sometimes people and things around me don’t feel real. I leaned into that by cutting out and scanning my little ghost painting and adding some digital noise into the background. With this piece, I learned that I can lean into different types of media to get a specific message across, rather than holding myself back by sticking with only one type of media.

If I could change anything about this piece, I think that I would have re-painted the ghost bigger and a tad more detailed in order to increase the quality. I would possibly even turn it into a tryptic, with three different color schemes, simply because I think it would look more interesting to hang up on a wall that way. I also feel that doing so would really express that feeling of depersonalization a bit more than this one single piece alone.

While creating this, I was really surprised with how I was capable enough to paint the folds and lighting across the fabric without any reference. I was also surprised with how I was able to connect that feeling of depersonalization without having to plan this piece out. I just felt my way through the process.

Artist Statement