RAINBOW CATHARSIS - 2020 - ongoing
Large Scale Works

Trauma is multiple. More than one bad thing happens to each of us. And more than one thing defines who we become as people. In my case, my childhood, youth and young adulthood were filled with violence, sexual abuse and rape. There were good things too on occasion. Those were the moments that were documented, put in photo albums. There are no photographs of the bad things. Rainbow Catharsis is a personal collective story of anger, pain, feeling powerless mixed with moments of fight and energy. The goal is to do it in a way that allows the viewer to relate to their own traumas, insecurities or bad times while also allowing a release with the text of irony and gritty humor. Humor can be a defense mechanism but also a tool to heal. And in these works it is used as a way for the serious nature not to become a trigger but rather a form of empowerment, good conquered evil, ah ha.

To explain the physicality of the work, they are life size and sometimes larger. I use heavy paper and found fabrics along side snapshot photographs that I have taken throughout the years as well as photographs that my family considered rejects when cleaning out my dead grandparents house. I have a variety of paints from gouache to acrylic and an occasional spray paint. Text, English is often used as an ironic twist of the recovery process. It is direct, no messing about except in the strokes. Color and the imperfection, flawed aesthetic quality, almost hurriedness reflects the desperation as an artist to get it out.

Please email me for detail photos and more information - julianairenesmith@gmail.com