Samantha Jacklin

Looking at the Outside

I look out from within. Longing for the outside yet I have grown to feel safe behind a window.

“Life is experienced through the inside and outside world, both emotionally and physically. My thesis expresses the ways in which I have experienced the pandemic, especially as an introverted individual. The isolation has caused grief and discomfort, but I find myself making peace in the world I create. This is something introverted people are conditioned to learn. The world around me may be dull or at times chaotic, but throughout the pandemic - imagination and dissociation becomes a coping mechanism in order to find comfort. By painting various sceneries relevant to my life at this time, I paint on two layers of plexiglass, the first layer with a duller palette and the second layer with a more saturated palette. The plexiglass functions to separate these two worlds but also to speak to this barrier of the outside world in the context of the pandemic, as well as the barrier felt from social anxiety. I use the saturated colour instinctually. I use colours that bring me comfort and make me feel good. My paint strokes are free and impressionistic. I consistently include windows or doors in my pieces that speak to the disconnection from me to the outside world.For myself, I express that sometimes there’s peace and clarity in spending time alone. I aim to create work that embodies the way that isolation can hurt and disconnect us from the world but how the introverted person will always try to adapt through the world they create.”