IT’S OK. I DON’T EVEN CRY.
This piece is about being born female. The arm is cut up like meat from a butcher. The hand at the top pushing the seams of the painting apart evokes the hands of men pushing themselves onto women. This piece is meant to feel hopeless. A sign on a streetlight reads, “You are public property”.
The following three pieces are all connected through an overarching story. It is a book series I am working on yet to be published. These pieces are concept art for the project. The story follows a girl who is the most recent descendant of the Goddess who is locked in a battle between a tyrannical government that seeks to wield her power and her father whose only goal is to destroy his daughter and the following of the Phoenix.
Saeve
A monochromatic practice piece of one of my characters named Saeve. Saeve is a half-demon summoned for The Following of The Phoenix, a religious congregation that worships the bloodline of The Goddess. Saeve has a deep history with the church, originally summoned when the current Cardinal was sixteen. However she was unsummoned due to an incident that the church refuses to disclose. The other demons seem to hold some contempt towards her. Now resummoned, Saeve is tasked with training the current phoenix in the martial and elemental arts.
The Gifting of Wings
The Gifting of Wings is about feminine rage and many other things. It’s visceral. It’s motherhood. It’s loss. Brutus (The Goddess) loses her wings to save her daughter and is now stuck in purgatory watching her daughter grow up without her. The Gifting of Wings is an annual celebration in the church that worships Brutus. The celebration happens on the birthday of Brutus’ daughter, Damara. Any clergy being promoted in rank will be appointed at this celebration. In addition, the clergy members who are next in line to train the next generations of avian children. They are gifted a pair of shadow wings, which work through dark matter to create a pair of pitch black wings the user can conjure at any moment.
The Summoning
Phoenix spies on Seraph (left) and Meave (right) as they summon a new demon to help the church. Phoenix grows weary of this church that has supposedly worshiped her lineage since she washed up from the river next to the abbey. She is afraid to trust Seraph and the congregation as she is unsure whether or not it is a cult. However, with nowhere else to go, she finds her best bet is to simply uncover the mystery of The Following of The Phoenix.