Alesandra Caroline: BFA Artist Talk

Facilitated by Western Gallery intern Sydney Durst.

Artist Statement

"Holy Afterbirth" is an experiment in absurdist horror film and sculpture. The film explores the many versions one person can hold inside them. Religious and patriarchal ideals imbed arbitrary rules. The mind tries to make sense of trauma through nightmare. Intrusive thoughts act as ghosts, haunting one’s reality. Like memory, the film distorts and degrades a moment in time. Interweaving live action, stop-motion and rotoscope animation, I capture this breakdown where divisions between real and imagined dissolve.

At its heart, this work mirrors the deconstruction and transformation in queer lives. Although I have grown to embrace myself as I am, my body and other queer bodies are villainized by church and state, which are allied in the current nationalist regime. Yet, our bodies remain precious. From sculpting to filming, editing to animating, I prioritize play and expression, and celebrate the reclaiming of joy and innocence.