Detail View: Art and Art History Student Work:

vrc_20210528_020

aahi0022245

Pony Dreams

full view

Artist statement: My work has become a vehicle for personal examination and investigation into my own identity. When I started trying to deal with the reality and trauma of my childhood as an adult it made sense that I should start by making art around it. I found that most of my vulnerability stemmed from the feminine relationships I had in my family so my recent work has been created through collaboration with them. My art has become a valuable tool for navigating tough conversations with my family and has created a bridge for us to work towards healing. More recently it has also become a way for me to connect my trauma to broader issues that I see affecting the world around me. I know that even if my experiences are unique and only belong to me, there are others out there that can somehow relate on some level. I find power in sharing my story and learning about others because we are all connected through a vast web of each other’s personal experiences. // “The Sleep In My Eyes” primarily deals with themes related to memory, trauma, and identity as it is formed by the nurturing of our families. I create art that focuses on my personal experiences while examining issues within them that relate to more extensive problems affecting broader populations. This specific body of work is centered around the sudden discovery of my mother's addiction to methamphetamine and how this knowledge has affected my memories, my family, and my relationship with my mother. Since she had kept it hidden from me up until my adulthood this knowledge created a sudden sense of clarity about her mental and physical deterioration over the years. However, it also changed how I perceived my own upbringing and brought about an entanglement of feelings I am still trying to unravel. With this project, I have created a platform that allows me to share my perspective on the situation with my mother and to spread awareness on the effects substance abuse has on those closest to an addict, especially their children. // By growing salt crystals on my family photographs and objects reminiscent of my childhood, I am exploring how this knowledge of my mother’s addiction has affected how I see my own memories and the relationships within my family. The salt is a symbol for the destruction substance abuse brings about in the lives of addicts and their close friends and family, but its beauty is also symbolic of the healing I hope to bring about with the project as well.

2020

creation

Chelsea Taylor (American, born 1994)

female

Written thesis: https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/xs55md37z

MFA 2021, Art and Art History

IMAP (Interdisciplinary Media Arts Practices) student, Art and Art History, CU Boulder

TO BE DELETED WHEN ALL IMAP STUDENTS INCLUDE SUB-AREA AFFILIATIONS

substance abuse

identity

memory

mental disorders

families (kinship groups)

toys (recreational artifacts)

photographs

photographs

photographs

toy horse, alum salt, archival pigment print

18 in (H) x 24 in (W)

University of Colorado Art Museum

exhibition

Boulder, Colorado

© Chelsea Taylor

© Chelsea Taylor

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University of Colorado Boulder

Art and Art History Visual Resources Center

Art and Art History Student Work Archive

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