The series How You Were Made is driven by themes of psychological unease and transformation. Depicting bodies in various states of composition, it examines how our imagination negotiates abstract notions such as growth, change and mortality through metaphorical and experiential avenues. The sculptural bodies, created from papier‐mâché and epoxy resin, become sites of fusion, in which physical anatomy is merged with allegorical counterparts. Their representational nature is reminiscent of museum dioramas, taxidermy and didactic science models, causing them to waiver between fact and a sense of disbelief and mystery. 

 

The images and forms belong to a visual vocabulary developed through research into historical and mythological beliefs surrounding the body and its relationship to the natural world, art historical references and autobiographical experience of being raised on the Canadian Prairies. Projecting states of growth and ruin, these bodies are informed by cross‐referencing historical source material and contemporary existential experience. Through the process of their formation, I reflect on identity in relation to physical and metaphorical beginnings and endings.