Marcy Parks Artist Statement
Artist’s Statement
An artist’s statement is an important thing when it comes to understanding and communicating the driving motivations and identity of your work. I have spent some time recently clarifying my artist’s statement with a friend and even though this is my first draft and it feels a little vulnerable and early to share it, because of the state of the world (the recent overturning of Roe) and the work I am currently doing in my studio, it feels relevant to share it now.
So if you have ever wondered about my art, “What does this mean?” or “What is this supposed to be?” Read on below.
Marcy Parks Artist Statement
If the body keeps the score, then mine is a 10 out of 10 on the Adverse Childhood Experiences quiz.
I am a survivor, daughter of a survivor, and a woman now raising a daughter of my own.
My works offer a glimpse into the intimate spaces of my own body and psyche, turning them inside out and bringing them into the light to study the histories, stories, memories, trauma, and, of course, all the emotions tangled and knotted within that have brought me to this moment, and the next, and the next.
Each painting is a reckoning with parts of my body and mind that have remained hidden, an attempt to decipher which narratives around womanhood, femininity, and my role in the world are actually my own, which I have inherited, and which need to be re-written, and serves as a way to see those parts of myself, know them, and be for myself what I have always needed. The creation of each painting like stepping into the garden of my being, digging up roots and their rot and re-seeding the garden so that my daughter, and any future daughters, may enjoy the harvest to come.
The physical nature of my work serves as a form of self-administered EMDR therapy, scribbling stories on a surface then connecting the physical sensations of the grip of a paint brush, the cool and slippery texture of paint on my fingers, the lyrical and gestural motions of applying paint to surface while following threads of thought as they weave and tangle in knots in my mind. Throughout the process of painting, though, the knots begin to loosen and I find the heart of the narratives that have driven me, consciously or otherwise, and like Hansel and Gretel following the trail of crumbs, I make my way back out of the woods to be greeted by the abstract forms, lines, and marks that map the journey to my healing.