For my BFA thesis I explored the historic origins of internalized hate, the purpose of pain within the process of identity and how individuals develop personal insecurities. At the start of this process, the goal was to point to stereotypes of difference and share the personal stories of those with stigmatized identities that are often hidden behind the norms of society. Through my efforts to create a way of representing the board spectrum of human identity, I was challenged to create something ‘new’ that stands on history while also avoiding homogeny.
Our understanding of pain is an illusion formed by implemented constructs. How individuals process sensory, emotional and cognitive pain is analogous to a person’s experience of life events, society and forces of the outside world. Self-expression is one of the imperial manifestations of mankind that is subjective to perspective, knowledge and emotion. Pain is a response to human experience, a foundation of identity, which can limit or stimulate expression. The origins of pain are rooted outside the skin but overtime can imbed internally.
Soap has maintained a close physical relationship with mankind for over 5,000 years, fortifying its place in human culture as a primary means of self-cleansing. Humans have integrated lavation, the process of washing, into forms of a devotional or cleansing acts and as a habitual way of life. The soap offers no solution or compromise to the problem because pain is subjectively defined. It only allows what was once insoluble become soluble, stripping away the layers of post-trauma.
