To Look With Destruction is a puzzle that must be deciphered. This Surrealist oil painting is laden with coded words, veiled imagery, and object symbolism. It explores the experience of body dysmorphia through visual metaphor and seeks to mirror the distorted reality that is created by this experience. In my practice, poetry and painting are deeply intertwined. My research for this painting began with a period of reading poetry, including Sylvia Plath, Emily Dickinson, and Margaret Atwood, as well as writing my own poetry to help develop the imagery found in the painting. The poems you see mounted on the wall expand the visual narrative and are an integral part of my storytelling. In this project, I work outside of the body because body dysmorphia is a disembodying experience. I am seeking to explore the hidden, disturbing, and uncanny, portraying a poisoned mode of seeing the world and living in the body.
