ARTIST STATEMENT
never have i ever truly addressed my pain, what lingered in my head persistently in the background whilst with my peers from elementary to university. seeing the rise of violent crimes in my city, especially to those of women, and the endless doom-scrolling intertwined with my personal pain was exacerbated by the pandemic and its transformation of our physical world. it made me crave some way to talk to others the way i had used to always talk to others. looking at little people in little windows in a computer screen was what i thought a younger, socially-anxious, introverted me would have loved, instead it was a depressed girl who just wanted to be heard’s nightmare.
so i paint. i painted what made me rage, what made me scream, what made me happy, what scared me. i painted my thoughts. my work is unapologetically me.
i etched my feelings on the panel and scrubbed and shredded away pieces of me with charcoal, gesso, and acrylic. pieces of a lisa frank calendar were used from its original purpose of tracking time to the victim of my rage. with charcoal i drew age-old internet emoticons and frivolous stars of my dreams whilst being consumed by a black void. to paint… made me feel good.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
jasmine amir is a chicago-based mixed media visual artist. she received her BFA at the university of illinois in chicago in 2022. her work addresses themes regarding trauma, recovery, sexuality, girlhood, and femininity whilst growing up in the 2000s.
© Jasmine Amir