Made In the Likeness of Eve, the Original Sinner
Elena Y.
Gum and candy wrappers, eyeliner packaging, string, liquid glue, nail polish, newspaper, digital software
-
Repurposing all of the stray candy wrappers and empty containers of gum, the piece started out as messy collage in my sketchbook. Channeling my frustration with my fluctuating body-image due to school and other stresses, I let my midnight artistic intuition experiment with a rough composition before gluing everything down. Only after a few months, in a car ride with my mom blasting old 80’s music, was I inspired by a Third-Eye Blind album cover to pull out my laptop and digitally add to the piece. Paying homage to the stories of Eve, who was punished for her human-ness, I wanted this piece’s voice to be loud enough, angry enough, to fight back against narratives of the perfect woman and reflect how much these unrealistic standards promote self-hatred to the point where it’s the norm to revel in another person’s flaws to feel better about oneself.
-
Creativity is a second heart beating in my chest. Though I feel the most creative freedom in art, my artistic perspective stems from my desire to learn. I look for new perspectives when learning about world events to prevent unconscious biases, and see creativity as a language uniting universal experiences.
