ARTIST STATEMENT
My body of work consists of images from my childhood rendered through bitmapping and silkscreen printing to produce vibrant, geometric abstractions. The tactile nature of screen printing allows me to become physically embodied in the process of making, creating space for me to reclaim presence within my body in healing from gender-based violence.
I focus on images of my younger self either alone or with the older women in my life who nurtured me, purposefully excluding men from my images. My lifelong experiences with gender-based violence, related trauma, and cPTSD has affected my memory, inspiring me to play with themes of recollection and legibility.
I retain varying levels of legibility in my images depending on the shapes, colors, and digital alterations built into the designs. The ambiguity of the images rendered in print invites the viewer into an embodied experience where their reading of the work can change based on their physical position in relation to the piece.
My prints replicate the faultiness of memory and the feeling of nostalgia through distortion and imperfect images.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Oona Bruss (b. 2001) is an interdisciplinary artist hailing from the San Francisco Bay Area who focuses in digital photography, silkscreen printing, and silversmithing. She graduated with a BA in Design and a minor in Studio Art from Tulane University in 2023. During her time in New Orleans, Oona began experimenting with her art practice and was in her first two group exhibitions, “Artists Respond: Post-Roe Louisiana” and “Tulane Undergraduate Juried Exhibition” (2022) where she won the Juror’s Award. After returning to California, she began working at the Print Shop LA as a silkscreen instructor while continuing to grow her personal practice. She participated in three group exhibitions nationally in 2023: “Unsavory” at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center, “Down There” at Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, and “Women in Art” at Las Laguna Art Gallery in Laguna Beach. Recently, she has taken on an additional teaching role as a silversmith instructor at Hellbent Silversmith in Long Beach and is working on her first jewelry collection.
© Oona Bruss