art making & exhibiting 2023

chloe gayfer

Girl in Pieces, 2023, is a work on paper using charcoal through which the artist seeks to explore how self-perception can be distorted through the visual metaphor presented by a broken mirror. This Unit 4 artwork is a continuation of artworks produced in Unit 3 whereby the same artform is used and all three pieces are share the central theme of the human expression. Created using different application techniques and variants of charcoal, the piece depicts a female figure looking at her reflection through a broken mirror and is intended to convey a haunting and slightly melancholic aesthetic. The title of this work is imbued with a double meaning, both literal and implied, whereby the artist illustrates the face of a girl repeated in several broken fragments but how ultimately, the artist seeks to communicate the message of how self-esteem can be dismantled, broken in “pieces”, by feelings of doubt, insecurity, and vulnerability. This piece is intended to be a confrontation of this message, similar to how looking at one’s reflection in a mirror is a confrontation of how we look, what we see, and how we feel. The artist wants viewers to ask themselves what feelings they might confront, what do you see when you look in a mirror?