Faculty of Art

Drawing and Painting

Maya Kaplan

Tether

An exploration of how memory is held in the dreamscape. A mythological, surreal portrait recounting lived experiences while subconsciously embedded in them. I invite the viewer to see the world of femininity and gendered experience through my gaze, as it returns to me in the present. Social expectations of womanhood; desirability, softness, submission, and performance, shape the self often before one is conscious of the influence.External pressures inform identity on multiple levels, embedding themselves in gesture, posture, and self-perception, subconsciously. Being is an endless evolution, and authenticity requires confronting those performed versions of the self. Become unashamed of participation in these performances, and rather recognize them as parts of the evolving you.She walks away from what no longer serves her, posture low with inherited shame of performed femininity for others' gaze. Despite her being tethered to these expectations, the act of choosing to move despite them becomes proof of her agency; her evolution is still to come.