Artist Statement

Inner Bonds is my narrative comic series, in which human feelings are represented through anthropomorphic characters. Each character represents a feeling that is regularly occurring to me, with the central trio representing anxiety, misfortune, and insecurity. Every character has a color associated with it, creating a bold color palette to mimic how vivid emotions can be in our everyday lives.

 The Inner Bonds zines serve as the narrative backbone for this body of work from which all the other elements are derived. Each of the four current volumes focuses on one of the three main characters, introducing additional characters in the fourth volume. Specific double-page spreads are taken from each zine volume and enlarged to allow these moments to be displayed in conjunction with the zines. The imagery being selected for screen print takes place before and after the climax of that volume’s narrative. These prints appear in eye-catching fluorescent tones and draw the viewer's attention to the imagery, making them pause to evaluate the piece and feeling within. The accompanying installation, Tree House Commotion, takes the imagery off the pages of the comics and puts it into a three-dimensional space. Featuring cardboard cutouts of different scenery elements and characters from the zine as they explore the area around the ‘tree house’ that Stitches is inhabiting.  

All the separate elements of this body of work feature the same color palette and aesthetic that, when together, create a multilayered viewing experience. This body of work strives to communicate the importance of our emotions while invoking feelings through both the various forms of making and communication.