"My work explores narratives, specifically the stories we carry privately yet long to express and share with others."
Elizabeth Wood
How does your work interact with the theme of “A Generous Kingdom V: Art that Explores Story, Symbolism, and Beyond”?
My work explores narratives, specifically the stories we carry privately yet long to express and share with others. At its best, art is a generous kingdom with its power to communicate and bring people together; to create a place of compassion and understanding akin to what Marcel Proust said of reading: “that fruitful miracle of a communication in the midst of solitude.”
Does the idea of transformation influence your work and process?
I believe art has the potential to act as a touchstone for healing and in that sense the idea of transformation plays a large part in my work and process.
What draws you to the medium you chose? And tell us a little about your process (I don’t believe in giving it all away).
Digital manipulation is similar to collage and there are an infinite number of open source images available on the Internet for me to leverage in bringing to light that which I want to express. I begin with a concept and undergo research for images and text to collage and layer together. I often storyboard my way to the final image but sometimes the more compelling pieces come together through experimentation and happenstance.
What are the strengths of the medium? What are the challenges?
The strengths of the medium include the vast number of images at hand, the unlimited options for typography, and the ability to swiftly mix and arrange fragments into a whole. My profession was in technology so digital art was a natural. The main challenge is how difficult it can be to imbue a visceral feeling to digital art. I accept that challenge as part of the creative process.
Who inspires you? And What do you do to get inspired?
I’m most inspired by literature and poetry particularly Virginia Woolf, Anton Chekhov and Fernando Pessoa and the poets Paul Celan, Emily Dickinson, and Walt Whitman. As well as finding inspiration from literature and poetry I find inspiration in fragments of random conversations I overhear while out walking.
If you could have coffee or tea with any artist who would you pick? What would you have coffee or tea? What would you ask that artist?
I would pick the contemporary poet Ocean Vuong. I would listen to him in the hope that his ability to distil extraordinary emotion from so few words might rub off on me.