Visceral

Jacquelene Verna

ARTIST STATEMENT

​Many topics are considered taboo.  Overcoming these controversial topics so that they are no longer abhorred requires viewing them in a different light, and bringing such topics up for discussion. In this piece, death is displayed as an entirely natural process as entrails adorn a barren branch like fruit, with the boar’s tissues parting and taking forms similar to the branches themselves. The piece imitates and re-envisions the process of decomposition while demonstrating direct ties in nature, especially the course in which all matter returns to the environment in order to be reused; with matter being neither created nor destroyed. Moths representing the soul of the deceased escape through the mouth of the organism and form a balanced and continuous flight pattern, just as nature in its entirety follows fluctuating cycles. By creating a sense of balance the image appears more perfected and planned, making the subject become less brutal and creating a more fragile and elegant connotation.