ARTIST STATEMENT
In my practice, I reenter girlhood through my personal archive of over 250,000 photos. Interpreting them through paint is both meditative and painstaking, as I navigate through the excess and discover engaging compositions within the pictures. I explore the translations between captured moments and nostalgia in my memory of the subjects. I frequently return to my adolescent female friendships and activities as inspiration, and most recently, my American Girl Dolls. I have been revisiting photographs I took 10 years ago in secret with my friends as we continued to play with our dolls throughout middle school. My paintings reflect the bonds and tensions formed in young relationships. They are not only images, but studies of the love and fear between girls and how they transform in womanhood.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Nora Wiley-Schwartz is a Brooklyn-born artist that is a recent graduate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She focuses mostly on painting and drawing, working with themes of nostalgia and domesticity in day to day life. She has exhibited in shows in Chicago and New York City.
© Nora Wiley-Schwartz