Description
ARTIST STATEMENT
Throughout history, queer people have made their own spaces, created their own iconography and lived their own authentic lives. Reflecting on and taking inspiration from the history of women’s fashion in America, I have crafted a queer retelling of painted knees. Popular amongst young women in the 1920’s pre-war time, Painted knees were an oft controversial and rebellious act of beautification, often adorned for social gatherings during prohibition. Imagining this act as a form of sapphic expression, I have taken period accurate garments and beading techniques to recreate this fad in a permanent, wearable way. Using queer and feminist floral languages to tell a quiet narrative, the violet has long been a symbol of sapphic identity in America, and the Lilly is a modern day representation of lesbianism in China. To me, the act of adorning an often overlooked part of the body feels feminine and gentle, often only truly appealing to the sapphic (female) gaze.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Eliana Pinkert is an interdisciplinary artist originally from Portland, Oregon who live and works in Chicago, Illinois. They explore personal themes of cultural heritage, queer identity, and reckon with feelings of loss and isolation in their work though installation, painting, and print mediums. She recently graduated the Fine Arts BFA program at Columbia College Chicago and is a recipient of the annual Pougialis Fine Arts Award. Her portfolio is a collection of artwork that presents a complicated and painful duality of racial identity. From culture and family history to interests and influences, the work that she makes is an irrevocably authentic reflection of herself, in creativity and technicality.
© Eliana Pinkert