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My work is made up of life and death itself. Nothing in my work is permanent. I use the process of chlorophyll printing, which uses a natural bleaching process that takes images and puts them on leaves. I use images of things in my life that have "died", whether that is a relationship, a person, a feeling or even my childhood self. I believe that everything that makes up our lives as we know it is impermanent. Things die, things are left behind, but those losses create who we are today. The process of things and people in our lives decomposing is the only thing that allows growth in human beings. This process is replicated in my work. Certain cells are exposed to the sun and the chlorophyll within them is bleached and the cell is no longer able to live. Parts of the leaf die in order to create a larger image. Because I am using life itself as a material, my work itself is not permanent. It has a life and a death just like everything else. My work becomes a reminder of how nothing in life is permanent no matter how much you try and preserve it. I find this process to be very beautiful, and I am able to see myself through my work. My work connects quite deeply to this call because I use death as a part of my process, and I focus on the concept of death and decomposition throughout my practice. My work also allows me to see death as more than a loss, but as a way to grow.
My work is made up of life and death itself. Nothing in my work is permanent. I use the process of chlorophyll printing, which uses a natural bleaching process that takes images and puts them on leaves. I use images of things in my life that have "died", whether that is a relationship, a person, a feeling or even my childhood self. I believe that everything that makes up our lives as we know it is impermanent. Things die, things are left behind, but those losses create who we are today. The process of things and people in our lives decomposing is the only thing that allows growth in human beings. This process is replicated in my work. Certain cells are exposed to the sun and the chlorophyll within them is bleached and the cell is no longer able to live. Parts of the leaf die in order to create a larger image. Because I am using life itself as a material, my work itself is not permanent. It has a life and a death just like everything else. My work becomes a reminder of how nothing in life is permanent no matter how much you try and preserve it. I find this process to be very beautiful, and I am able to see myself through my work. My work connects quite deeply to this call because I use death as a part of my process, and I focus on the concept of death and decomposition throughout my practice. My work also allows me to see death as more than a loss, but as a way to grow.
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Dessa Ely Dessa Ely is a 17 year old artist based in Toronto attending Etobicoke School of the Arts Contemporary Arts program. She makes work using various mediums about loss, healing and her individual experiences through time. |
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