External Bifurcation

External Bifurcation

LibArt 2024

Oftentimes I have to monitor my actions so that I can fall in line with social expectations externally, this behavior is commonly referred to as masking. I represented these expectations through my image of two halves of a doll. Like a mask, the outer shell can be taken off, it symbolizes the performative nature of what women are expected to behave and look like. The more mechanical, robotic, inner workings of the doll ironically represent freedom, liberation from what you should act and look like. The flowing tendrils of hair show how energetic and free the being is without its outer shell restricting it. The heart-like organ represents its soul but also shows how vulnerable it is without its shell.

Katie Grear

2024

Held by creator

Intaglio print on paper