Pain In Flatness

My recent work has centered on the theme of pain and its relationship to the living body, with a particular focus on the skin as both a protective boundary and a site of vulnerability. Skin, through scars, blisters, and burns, not only bears the physical traces of injury but also speaks to the body's ongoing negotiation with pain and healing. This investigation led me to a critical realization: scarring, as a mark of trauma, only holds the capacity to cause pain when it is part of a living organism. The sensation of pain is bound to the presence of life, making the scar a visceral reminder of the body's aliveness.

In response to this, I created a series of four abstract prints that represent an imagined, evolving scarring process. These prints move beyond the literal, aiming to evoke a sense of growth and transformation within the scar itself. The abstraction allowed me to push the boundaries of what we traditionally associate with scarring, bringing it closer to the realm of something alive—an entity that might "feel" the pain embodied in its formation.

Through the printmaking process, a timeline of sorts emerged—a visual documentation akin to medical records that trace the development of an abstract organism. Each print captures a distinct stage in the evolution of this organism, reinforcing the idea of growth and change over time. This progression suggests not just a physical transformation but an emotional one as well, as if the abstract form were capable of experiencing the sensations tied to its own scarring.

By framing this series as a sequence of visual "records," I engage with the notion of making the abstract tangible, bringing it closer to something vital and capable of suffering. This deliberate act of creating and documenting a living, evolving form out of abstraction challenges the viewer to consider the nature of pain and its connection to the body, even in its most non-representational forms. The prints, in this sense, do more than illustrate—they create an intimate connection between the abstract and the corporeal, suggesting that even the intangible can carry the weight of trauma and the potential for feeling.