@segamarra

stephaniegamarra.format.com

My body of work embodies timid and tender debates filtered through the fragile years of my mother living with diabetes and surviving both liver and colon cancer. Through my artwork I have been able to find comfort in such difficult situations by preliminarily engaging with my mother, as the subject. This helping to not only mend a distant relationship, but also attain insight on the inner workings of the woman stoically leading a household through the belief of ones environment can erratically change with ample vigor, and to evolve.

From previous dialogues I draw inspiration to create artwork that often results in representative means involving the figure as the focal point of the surface. In time, my single-figure portraits were challenged as the discussions between my mother and I grew more intense with age and her words carried too much weight to elaborate through the represented figure.

The Moss Series allowed me to explore more abstract expressions relying heavily on color and design as the tool that defines space between the viewer and the environment created within the paintings. The painting Moss Sheath reflects moss’s quality to clench onto bare rock residing in damp, dark and forgotten conditions. As moss furiously grows thicker, taking control of the rocks surface, with unsure aspirations, it is compatible to the hardships one endures in chemotherapy as the body is forced to succumb to the antidote. Moss Sheath translates this power struggle through manipulating the rendered figure that has not yet entered a state of pure abstraction but shares the untamed nature of moss, caught in an inextricable tangle.