Ex- Caryatids 2019

Ink, acrylic, and graphite on paper

42 x 28"

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If the purpose of a body is directed by another entity, that purpose becomes the form to which the body takes shape. When that purpose is internalized, the body loses part of its agency. In order to fully experience pleasure, the body must therefore regain ownership. The Caryatids of the Erechtheion in Athens, Greece, Albright-Knox Museum in Buffalo, New York, and Forum Shops in Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada are the examples of bodies whose structures not only function as support but also as aesthetic objects. These figures support both the physical structure around them and the classical values of beauty, objectification, and aesthetic labors of female bodies. In my work ExCaryatids, I portray a moment in time where the body has been distorted, causing the removal of the other’s purpose. This demolishes the physical and metaphysical structures that the figure has been forced to uphold, thus allowing its agency, its selfhood, to be returned.