Activist Art: Touch/Don't
Completed October 2009.
12"x9"; pen&ink on watercolor paper.
I have a spine injury. One of its manifestations is that direct pressure to the spine, even relatively light, causes me intense pain. One of the things I have had to learn to avoid is causal hugs from friends, because they inevitably forget, and one friendly back-slap later I'm on the ground.
I'm naturally a physically affectionate person. Making this transition has... not been easy.
While this piece is inspired by the personal, my hope is that it generalizes well to the experience of chronic pain, and also the experience of being a woman, and perhaps even the experience of being human: specifically portraying the conflict between the need for physical connection and the need for physical safety.
Links:
Read my blog post about this piece.
12"x9"; pen&ink on watercolor paper.
I have a spine injury. One of its manifestations is that direct pressure to the spine, even relatively light, causes me intense pain. One of the things I have had to learn to avoid is causal hugs from friends, because they inevitably forget, and one friendly back-slap later I'm on the ground.
I'm naturally a physically affectionate person. Making this transition has... not been easy.
While this piece is inspired by the personal, my hope is that it generalizes well to the experience of chronic pain, and also the experience of being a woman, and perhaps even the experience of being human: specifically portraying the conflict between the need for physical connection and the need for physical safety.
Links:
Read my blog post about this piece.