Cercis

The body of work I have been developing during my stay at UNC Charlotte is inspired by my love of Anime and emotional reactions to environment, familial and social elements.

I developed the idea of using marionettes from an Anime series Vampire Princess Miyu. One episode depicts a demon god who changes people into puppets under the lure of immortal beauty. This brought to mind stories of the golem and the animation film “9” of man made items becoming vessels for souls. I wanted to develop this and so researched marionettes: how are they made, used in performance, manipulated by the controls and why they are fashioned and styled in specific expressions or appearances. Marionettes do not change in appearance like facial expressions or clothing like people to show expression. Their pose and posturing becomes the strongest device to communicate. I developed the theme of using marionettes to communicate emotion and reactions based on posturing and keeping features neutral. I see us as individuals being manipulated by politics, religion, family, friends and society as a whole just as a marionette is controlled by the puppeteer. The stories of my work evolved from self analysis into reactions to the events and people around me.

Current Residence: Charlotte, NC
deviantWEAR sizing preference: L
Favourite genre of music: Alternative
MP3 player of choice: iPod