ARTIST STATEMENT
The focus of this work pertains to intense complex trauma in relation to memory and adolescence. My work is inherently narrative, directly connected to a specific moment or gnawing feeling that I have never been able to escape within my own life. Growing up, I have been told that my work is too dark or intense. I was confused, never had I painted gore, dead bodies, or war ruins. It had never occurred to me that the themes or imagery explored in my work regarding my own emotional trauma could be considered dark and disturbing.
It was not until I was older that I realized that the subject matter of my work was not necessarily easy to digest. My mental pain was not suitable for the general public. This caused me to realize that people who live relatively typical or comfortable lives never truly question the pain of the human condition. To confront pain, or another human’s distress, is uncomfortable; but to live, I need to ask these questions. I need to explore pain, memories, identity, humility, trauma, the taboo. Within these questions I find myself asking a follow-up question… What inside us is universal and what is conditioned?
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Meg Johnson grew up in West Michigan. Their mother was a graphic design artist that graduated from Kendall College Of Art and Design in Grand Rapids Michigan, she now follows her mother’s passion for art by studying PreK-12 education at the School Of The Art Institute of Chicago. They fell in love with education as a result of her two deeply devoted high school art teachers pushing her growth since she was 15 and firmly believes that education is activism. Meg now focuses their work on feminism, personal narrative, mental illness, with a focus on figurative studies and anatomy.
© Meg Johnson