oil on canvas

Using the language of scarcity and direct representation, my work uses objects to explore the subtle tensions of my own place in society as a woman an artist. Safety is suggestive of childhood, the design of the rounded blades of the child safety scissors represents innocent childhood ignorance. The small safety scissors so delicately balanced within the satin ribbon, is a metaphor for the collection of my own memories that cross the barrier between awareness of my sexual self and being purely innocent and unaware of the shame that accompanies that knowledge. The scissors suspended in the tight knot of peach ribbon, are arranged to suggest innocence lost as the blades are thrust through the knot. The curl of peach ribbon at the top of the composition is arranged to suggest the delicate center of female pleasure. Our early experiences with our own anatomy as women are often shameful and framed as sin if we explore the function or take pleasure in our own anatomy. This work plays with the tension between innocents and awareness that I still struggle to express fully to my conscious self.

Willow Kosbab