charcoal, watercolor; 15×10”
“This Body is a piece dedicated to trafficking and sexual assault. The figure, sketched out messily, holds herself as she looks up to the sky, as if to wonder where she has gone wrong. The sketchiness of the piece depicts the botched memory of her assault and symbolism of how her body is no longer hers. The piece has various lyrics surrounding the figure, all illustrating her thoughts. Similarly, she is also bloodied up, likely having just come out of trafficking. She holds her bloodied shoulder, matched by her bloody nose, a symbolism of violence from an abuser. The eyes of the figure contain the most detail as a way of showing the audience that she is deeply traumatized by what has happened to her. The main idea of This Body is to bring awareness to women who are trafficked and sexually assaulted, along with the fear of speaking up.”
ARTIST BIO: Kiera FIORITO is a grade 12 student at Seton HS studying art under art teacher Margie Metz.