Acrylic, ink, spray paint, pencil on wood board.

16x20"

Inspired by the powerful words and live performance of Katie Makkai’s poem, Pretty, the artist created two pieces on wood panel drawing parallels between the medium’s solid exterior and the “hard truth” the author shares about women and physical appearances.

For this piece, Katie Makkai's entire poem was transcribed by hand in the artist’s penmanship as a way referencing how the same sentiments Makkai shares could easily have been her own thoughts one might find in the artist's journal. Makkai uses her voice in a compelling, theatrical way to address how at a young age she learned that the most important thing about herself was her appearance, and how her mother’s on-going efforts to doctor her appearance to make her more conventionally attractive left Katie wondering what her “real” face would have looked like.

The artist references the author’s aspirations for “physical perfection” by scribbling, re-writing, painting, crossing-out, hiding, revealing, highlighting and re-writing words from her poem to symbolize that despite the quest for perfection, a mess was made. There is a painful vulnerability in Makkai’s compelling delivery in which she admits that despite her mother having paid for physical adjustments to her daughter’s nose, teeth and overall appearance, an entanglement of emotions and overall sense of being "not-enough" remains; there's a deep feeling of being unwell despite having a flawless physical appearance.

The focal point of this piece remains the slightly obscured yet legible word “face” as the artist attempts to highlight that for many women, their most prioritized characteristic is the face (and their appearance in general) but there is little consideration given to the “messy” emotional impact that maintaining a perfect appearance that is intended to please others has on a woman’s psyche.


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The VOICES (That’s What She Said) collection is a celebration of the way women have used their words and voices to empower themselves and others.

Bouquet of Daughter

Tania LaCaria

599.00

Painting

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