"Suits", December 1, 2021
This was my final piece for a life drawing class. The assignment was to make a collage of images and then to draw it out. I appear to have lost my process images over the years, so I don't have the exact images I used on hand. The central figure is based on an image of my favorite skateboarder, Lizzie Armanto. I don't remember where the background image comes from, but it was probably stock footage of a court or legislature. Despite being pretty early in my art, I think this is one of the more powerful pieces that I've done. Lizzie is where the focus is on, and crucially the only person with color, everyone else is out of focus and shaded black and white, to the point where all the onlookers and even the judge fade into a faceless enemy. This has only become more and more relatable as the legislative assault on the lives of women and queer people continue - how many trans women, how many trans children have we seen in hauntingly similar situations, pleading for their lives to a panel that decided long ago that they were disposable? I can't say that's what's happening in this image. But I don't know that anyone there has good plans for her either. Certainly, we can say she's an outsider. This is a piece that I would definitely like to follow up on sometime and explore what happens during and after this event.
- Wanda