BELLA GOLDWIRE
Senior HL
Curatorial Rationale
7 Deadly Sins
My show is about the seven deadly sins and how people perceive them. It shows each one individually in a light that also shows how they apply in today's society. I personally am not religious but religion has always interested me greatly. Especially the seven deadly sins of Christianity which, in short, is a list of sins that if you partake in them you must be forgiven by the lord for before you die or else you will spend eternity in hell regardless of how good of a person you were in life. The seven deadly sins are Pride, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, Wrath, Greed and Sloth. They all primarily deal with the self versus how you perceive others with them. I chose to use these as my theme because everyone interprets them differently. When I was researching them almost every website I found had a different definition and ways in which people were sinful with each of the sins. I thought that was particularly interesting since most of the world is some denomination of Christian yet there are so many ways to perceive these sins how do they know that this is the correct way? So I decided to show I personally perceived them through art. I showed how mental health and the media impacts the sins, and how personal struggles also affected them. Sadly, due to school closures I did not have access to all of my art to set up an exhibit and photograph it so I had to set them up digitally to try and recreate how I would have set them up, but I hope you enjoy anyway!
BELLA GOLDWIRE
click images to enlarge - artist statements below - leave comments at bottom
ARTIST STATEMENTS
Temptation
Colored Pencils
5in x 7in
The piece Temptation also represents envy. It also alludes to another biblical story which is the story of Adam and Eve. It’s the moment that Eve is talking to the serpent who is in the forbidden tree. It shows envy because she was envious that the snake could be in the tree and eat the fruit but she couldn’t. This envy lead her to eating the fruit and being punished by god to knowing that she was naked which makes her also envious of her past self for not being shameful of her naked body.
Fly High
Pen and Marker
7in x 10in
Fly high represents envy because a lot of times when people get upset they envy things with more freedom than them. A lot of people envy things that have little responsibility and one of the most common that I’ve heard is butterflies. Butterflies represent freedom and beauty in this piece because the subject has a very solemn, unhappy face but she has butterflies in her eyes because she is envious that the butterflies around her have no worries and the freedom to fly wherever they want whereas she is mounted to the ground and can’t do what the butterflies can.
Not the Brightest
Ink and highlighters
8in x 10in
Not the brightest shows the sin of pride. It’s a play on words of how people say that people who aren’t smart aren't “the brightest bulb.” This shows pride because the boy in the photo thought he was very smart and he had a lot of pride in it. Then he realized that he was not as smart as he thought he was and that the pride he felt was unjustified and now he feels he can’t do anything. I chose to use little color in this piece to further the sayings play in the art. The colors I did use being very muted and very dull to further communicate the idea of not being bright or vibrant and him dulling out more as he fell deeper into realizing he was not the brightest.
Buzzing With Thoughts
Colored Pencil
Size: 5in x 7 in
Buzzing With Thoughts reflects the deadly sin of sloth. It shows that the subject has not moved in so long that bees have made her their home. This is symbolic of how people with anxiety and depression can get into severe points with their mental illness where it feels like bees are buzzing around in their heads but they are too sad to move or do things that would get the bees out. For this piece I chose a primarily cool color pallet because cool colors tend to communicate deep sadness and I wanted it to communicate that with the audience so they could understand the mental health side with the piece along with the sin aspect.
Crystals
Colored Pencil
4in x 6in
This piece represents the deadly sin of wrath. It depicts when a person gets so angry that they are no longer using their head and they are out to hurt. I chose to use crystals because typically crystals take a long time to grow which shows that the anger this person is feeling has grown over time until it finally broke the surface and she lashed out. The subject is also in the nude and has no limbs to signify vulnerability since anger is arguably one of the strongest emotions a person can feel they are also at their most vulnerable when showing it.
See All
Colored pencil
5in x 7 in
The piece See All represents the sin of greed. It shows a girl who will do anything she can to know more and see more. She is portrayed in skimpy clothing to show that she wants to learn everything she can about sex. She is willing to sell herself to learn more and experience as much as she can. The eyes around her show that she can see things from angles that others can’t but that still doesn’t satisfy her and she wants to see more.
Don’t Trip
Markers
7in x 10in
Don’t trip is the piece I chose to show gluttony. The definition is wanting to have more than you need. I decided to show that with drugs. I chose a mushroom to signify drugs because of the popular hallucinogen known as mushrooms or “shrooms”. I gave it a glitchy effect because a lot of time people who are on it see the world like that, very ‘piece-y’ and they can’t tell what is real and what isn’t. It is accepted and even encouraged today to be as high as possible all the time and to constantly be high. This can lead to drug addiction and make it to where the person craves drugs even more to escape reality.
Skin
Pen and marker
7in x 10in
This piece is the representation of the sin lust. This one is particularly tied to the sin because the reference I used for the art was myself. It was a nude I had taken for my boyfriend and I thought it was the perfect picture to use to show lust because to me very few things are as sinful as sending nudes to someone. I decided to not make it realistic though to show how a lot of times when art is made for lustful reasons, such as nude photos or porn, it isn’t realistic. It is filled with added effects to make it more interesting which is why I also added the bubbles to make it seem even less realistic and more fantasy.
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