Isabella Donn The absent, unknown, and make-believe

My body of work expresses my twisted emotions and memories of the identities of someone who has been absent in my life. The puzzle-like aspect of a developing mind going through trauma makes it challenging to differentiate between childhood romanticism, manipulated narratives, and reality. To fill the empty space of the absent I create characters representing who I remember them to be, who I wish they were, and who I assume they will become. Can I trust past memories to be true, or current judgements to be accurate, when thinking about the distorted identities of ‘the absent, unknown, and make-believe’?

Influencing artists:
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Matt Sesow
Jesper Waldersten
William Dobell