Brooke Rhonemus
EYES IN SKIN 5.5x8.5 Paper and Pencil
“Touch allows us to find our way in the world in the darkness or in other
circumstances where we can’t fully use our other senses.By combining eyesight and touch,
primates excel at locating objects in space”(Diane Ackerman, A Natural History of the Senses, p.70.)
Artist's Statement:
Ackerman states “skin has eyes”, this stuck out to me because I had never thought about this concept before. I wanted to create a drawing that shows a woman staring at herself through a mirror. Her reflection features her and many eyes staring back at her and through this, she is able to truly see herself. This alludes to Achermans main point of this section that “By combining eyesight and touch, primates excel at locating objects in space,” and one is truly able to see.
Paper and Pencil
“Pain has plagued us throughout the history of our species. We spend our lives trying to avoid it, and, from one point of view, what we call “happiness” may be just the absence of
pain. Yet it is difficult to define pain, which may be sharp, dull, shooting, throbbing,
imaginary, or referred to.”
Artist's Statement:
Ackerman explains that throughout human existence we have always tried to avoid pain, whether it be physical or emotional pain. I attempted to draw a woman who is in her own world or her own bubble. While outside factors cannot reach her. She is guarded in a safe place, in isolation where she is at peace. Like Ackerman states happiness may just be the absence of pain, in my drawing I wanted to showcase this. The point in which Ackerman states that it is difficult to define pain, made me think of the many people who put on a happy face when in actuality outside pressures can cause internal distress that others can not see. In some cases, people have to shut out the rest of the world in order to feel at peace.
