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Metamorphosis

Artist Statement

Throughout the year 2020, the novel COVID-19 coronavirus completely ravaged the world as we know it, pertinently in America. Here it deflated the economy, divided the country through a polarized political climate, heightened social tensions, shattered morale, and took lives. Breaking the clouds through the heaviness of tragedy and collapse, we laid witness to an unsolicited period of introspection for the masses. We were no longer tethered to the cyclical and hypnotic routine that passes the days by relatively unannounced. Suddenly, we had the time and proper environment to self-reflect, to question, and to meddle in our own thoughts and mute the distraction caused by the constant barrage from the world beyond the walls of our homes. This timeframe of incubation has provided a platform for a metamorphosis. Much akin to a caterpillar cocooning and transforming into a butterfly, many of us have evolved into the next iteration of ourselves, often for the better.

My personal metamorphosis revolves around how adapting to the pandemic and new world has allowed me to strip back the excess in life and focus on what is not only essential, but important to me. This has enabled a much healthier and more fruitful life. In essence, the period of isolation has served as a refreshing and optimistic lens to view life through. Prior to this transitional phase, my life was plagued with detrimental practices and mindsets. However, the filtration ensuing this introspection revealed the core necessities of life. For my installation, the audience is able to view through three windows into the heart of the piece. Reading through the windows from left to right, the viewer sees the transformative process of a full narrative speaking from a negative perspective being filtered down to an extracted version of the text that adopts a new positive outlook. When viewing through a positive lens, negativity is effectively eliminated from view which leaves only what truly matters. This is the demonstration of how light, no matter how minuscule, always overpowers the darkness.