Anna Ka Wai Kwan
Breathe
Prompt: I was inspired by the discussions we had in our Studio class around the idea of "Space and Materiality " as our keyword, and I wanted to explore the parallels between being mentally and physically confined. I thought this was particularly relevant to the times we are in right now, allowing the feeling of bring trapped and overwhelmed universally applied.
Exploring the overwhelming feeling of suffocation during this time of hardship and devastation. Not only does this piece aim to communicate overwhelming feelings of restriction because of the pandemic, but also due to everything else happening at the same time around the world. The world doesn’t stop and that is an overwhelming concept to think about. I chose to paint this in both detail and loosely, representing the xation on details when handed a picture.
To keep this piece universally applicable, I chose to cover the subject’s face, allowing the audience to put themselves in their position and feel the flooding of the water slowly surrounding them. I also leave the subject nearly fully immersed in the water to allow the viewer to have their own perspective: is the person giving up? Or are they fighting to survive. Which one do they want to be?
