#malformed

This was made for my advanced painting class last semester. I decided to use Solstice as my subject. Rather than babble (like usual), here's my artist statement instead!🌻🌻🌻

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My work intertwines the human figure with flower imagery, creating a flat space full of clutter that disorients the eye. I use an acrylic base overlaid with oil paint to enrich the colors further, creating a song of light and shadow. I keep to a philosophy of failure precedes growth, working intermittently on other pieces that dance between practice and destruction. This push and pull between the act of creation and the chaos that follows is integral to my process, showcasing the dichotomy between control and spontaneity, which come together in the final piece.

Presented in a disarming and girlish art style, my work reveals a superficiality in how survivors of assault are perceived and treated, challenging the narrative of the perfect victim. My paintings typically begin as poems and short stories, which I develop further through the medium, weaving together a narrative through symbolic imagery. The text, which serves as the foundation of the work, is interwoven into the piece, scrawled onto the surface and later obscured by layers and layers of paint. The opacity of the oil allows for the words to be glimpsed by the viewer while remaining unreadable and hidden, representative of the unspoken and taboo that resides just under the surface of societal expectations and social interactions. In a culture that prioritizes comfort over justice, I question who is really being protected.

Poem below ⬇️

Today, another disgrace.

Today, they make another mockery of the country, and the world.

Today, not enough people question, criticize, or revolt.

Today, they all bow to him.

Saklas

——— Dark Field Monotype [FULL BLEED] Ink on Paper, 15 x 22 2025 ~Age

I have to be honest today.

My legs are in agony right now, the moisture and atmospheric pressures are causing the scar tissue to swell.

It makes me think what my legs would have felt like if i had never had the operations done on them.

And frankly, i and my legs were in less pain before fixing my deformities.

The agony i suffered as a result of my deformities were internal and mental pain. I faced rejection and alienation for this blatant difference. Yes from my peers but they were school children. It was my parents and other adults that subsequently were pushing me away for these imperfections.

So, i had my legs cut open and the bones rearranged to make them appear normal.

I certainly dont feel normal. They hurt almost all the time and i still cant wear the pretty shoes or dance or run or jump. But my foot print, as long as you dont look too closely, looks normal in the sand and dirt.

I wonder what they would have felt like if i never let a surgeon "fix" me. I wonder how people would treat me if i still carried the disfigurement.

Where would i be if i was never sick and deformed in the first place?

And in truth, my parents acknowledge the sacrifice but are put upon. I am still disfigured. However a more subtle invalidity with vain effort to appease their sensibilities.

Going under the knife, spilling blood, carving bone, constructing flesh to change the shapes of my feet and the gate of my step had done nothing to fix their perception of me.

And it hurts. So much.

GHOST