Matriarchs
- digital print
- 24 x 24 x 2 in
- $900
- Denise L. Emerson
-
Available
In “Matriarchs” my goal is to illustrate the different stages of being a woman. I used three busts of women, the two figures on the left are Skokomish and the figure on the right is Hesquiaht from Vancouver Island. As per usual, there was no identifying text for these women but for my purposes, I felt that I was working with my Skokomish elders as I worked with their faces. I also added text of the roles that women have in a family. Once I had the women placed in position, the text fell into a complete composition. I wanted parts of the figures to stand out, so I used blue to accent. This work was juried into the “In the Spirit” Native American Art Exhibit at the Washington State Historical Museum and won a Purchase Prize award for being the most innovative art form (I used Microsoft Excel to design the piece). It was an artistic challenge to represent organic lines using square cells. It was the shape of the head, hair, eyes, and age lines in the faces that moved me and took so much time yet living with them every day inspired me.
- Subject Matter: Women