Through the use of self portrait photography and photographic sculpture, Beauty in Broken Things explores the journey of transformation that one undergoes when they experience traumatic events and when one later takes the steps to heal, confronting their traumas head on.

The more traditional style self portraits utilize dramatic lighting to create deep shadows and obscure parts of the body and face. The addition of the stylized and contorted pose adds distortion to the subject, manipulating what remains visible to the viewer to communicate the discomfort and agony that accompanies experiencing trauma. The poses themselves represent the back and forth between holding oneself together despite what they’ve experienced, and tearing oneself apart as they delve within themselves in search of answers.

Alongside these portraits are the photographic sculptures at various sizes, less obscured and depicting more of the body. The sculptures feature legs in various poses and positions stitched to the body using embroidery floss. The smaller sculptures showcase a more in-progress attachment of the extra limbs, speaking more to the active transformation. The large sculptures depict a more ‘finished’ transformation. The various poses experiment with understanding and expressing a few of the stages of dealing with trauma that I’ve personally experienced: feeling trapped by my trauma and unable to be anything aside from a product of it, confronting my trauma and its roots to overcome it, and accepting that it is a part of who I am while acknowledging that it does not have to define me forever. The introduction of the needle in this piece speaks to the ebb and flow as I navigate between being molded into a monster, and choosing to become one – whether to survive an environment, or as an acceptance of the person I’ve become.

I approach my work as someone seeking answers, someone trying to listen and understand without judgement; a creation questioning the decisions of their creator. Through my work I am processing the experiences I have lived through, and learning how they made me into the person I am today in hopes of moving forward to become the person I want to be. I am searching for answers as to who I am outside of my experiences, and how I can exist without being bound by the scars I carry.