ARTIST STATEMENT
This submission explores the difficulties of mental health in the Appalachian mountains. Combining photography taken of a rural Appalachian cancer survivor, a wiccan woman in a conservative town who has survived all the difficulties that comes with being her authentic self. These images are paired with poetry that dives into the feelings of hopelessness that a lot of us feel around climate change. The feeling of watching something you love burn, the bewilderment of the animals around you, the numbness that comes from knowing there is nothing you can do. The connection to our history and to our family. Sometimes all we can do is wait until it’s done burning and then figure out what can be salvaged and where to go from there.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Coriander Focus is a full time creator, working mostly in the mediums of photography and written word. Coriander creates between four and eight thousand photos per year and shares her art with her community alongside poetry, short stories, and other creative exploration. Coriander spent her childhood in the wilderness of the Appalachia mountains and involved with a pagan community that steeped her creativity in ritual and divination, and that magic is brought to the forefront in her recent work. Coriander’s work has been shown nationally over the last decade of her career. Notable recent expeditions and residences have been Sarasvati Creative Space Residency (2021), Exhibition in Motion hosted by the Society of North American Goldsmiths (2018) and Transformation, hosted by RE:ARTESTIE New York NY.(2017)
© Coriander Focus