Amelia Monroe
Artist Statement
My current body of work titled The Nature of Mankind is inspired by the sculptures I photographed while studying painting abroad in France. I became fascinated with these majestic stone and bronze characters and as I developed and manipulated the photos their “ values” began to represent the various myths of mankind to me. I have added an element of nature to each composition to create a kind of still life / portrait. Working with mixed media, I employed the technique of high contrast carbon release photo transfers from the sculptures as a starting point. I then develop these images with a variety of drawing techniques to create textural details, seeking to bring these sculptural spirits to life in a new environment. These classical images of antiquity marry the purely natural forces of textural botanicals to create a dream like state that the statue re-lives in.
The funding for this project is provided in part by the Broward County Board of County Commissioners as recommended by the Broward Cultural Council and is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.