watercolor, yarn;
24×12”
“This is a self-portrait depicting the struggles of womanhood. The pose and expression of the woman are painful and showing a clear desperate distress. The yarn and the redness of her eyes show her pain being shown and everything spilling out, but also hiding her true figure, symbolizing the pressure that societal and male-set standards have applied. The meaning of this piece is that pain does not define. Every woman goes through pain – though the amounts may be unequal, it occurs at some level nonetheless. Women are still people, and pain should not be a shackle that hides that.”
ARTIST BIO: Nora UTLEY is a grade 12 student at Seton HS studying art under art teacher Margie Metz.