ART INSPIRATION
I was inspired by the recent political environment in the U.S. and around the world as well as the situation at Standing Rock. The very act of body painting is in itself a revolutionary and evolutionary process that is necessary to the healing of the human psyche. Body art activism has my heart and soul now.
I have felt all my life this very sentiment of people asking me to ‘censor’ my intensity and my heart on a wide variety of subject matters. The events of the last month have inspired me to no longer censor myself and encourage others to express themselves and their feelings concerning the human state on this planet.
PROCESS
My model Alex and I met up and painted the image in 2 and half hours. I wanted to capture the raw immediacy of the heart coupled with humans’ sad needs to censor other humans’ actions, feelings and behavior. I used brush and sponge techniques. Everything is hand done and painted. I wanted to create the illusion that the model is censored yet literally ripping her heart out of her chest using illusion of highlights and shading to portray a cavity in the body through body painting only.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR RACHEL
What’s next is will be a litany of powerful body painted images bringing to light the vast injustices and issues going on in this country and the world related to women’s rights, environmental causes, lgbtq rights and more.
CALL TO ACTION
Now is the time for artists to be healers as we always have. It is time to highlight the private human processes into a public spotlight that only images can have a visceral effect upon our consciousness. Pictures truly speak to the soul.
With Aloha, Rachel 12/7/2016
Mahalo to my photographer, Zen Panda
