Life unravels.
The story behind it is a personal one.
I wanted to physically embody my journey, from a normal life when everything
fitted together snugly, to my life now which is chaotic, unstable and
unraveling due to chronic illnesses.
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The unraveling part wasn’t sudden and all at once. When I first became sick I thought I could still do everything and attempted to hold it all together but this only made my instability worse which is represented in this piece through the tapering in of the points and looser tension as I wove. This journey is also symbolically captured in the colours I chose. As the piece begins to change and unravel, the colours become a lot more muted and sombre.
This piece is woven from mainly my old pyjamas, jeans and shirts.
I chose these materials in an attempt to be more environmentally conscious
but also because these clothes have journeyed with me.
Life unravels, to me is my most important piece thus far. It took me almost a year to create and it is a very personal piece. Being chronically ill has been really hard for me to come to terms with and I've found that processing it through art has been almost therapeutic. So considering this piece took so long to make and has been a direct way of me coming to terms with being sick, it would have to be the most significant.
This piece also recently won the experimental art award at the Hypervision art awards which is so awesome!
"Chronic fatigue syndrome",
in a phrase, is how I was during that time in my life.
sleeping constantly. Being chronically ill is something I struggle with daily. Nobody seems to see it because its an invisible illness and so a lot of my art is about highlighting and showing people the unseen side of chronic illness which for me is often sleeping for periods of up to 14-16 hours, sleeping my days away.
I'm really passionate about bringing awareness to the invisible struggles of chronic illnesses. Recently I created a piece for lyme disease awareness month. I created a colouring book for a CFS/lyme support group called Chrysalis here in Perth that I go to for their fundraiser and awareness events. I am vegan and have been for two years which is pretty important I feel as far as world changing things go. Also I'm really passionate about diverse sexuality and gender identities and all the issues that go along with that. Considering I got sick during my early high school years and was forced to drop out, most of the information I learned was from being online and doing my own research. Which is great because if I had been waiting on my high school to teach me about LGBTIQA+ issues and feminism, I think I'd be waiting quite awhile.
These passions influence my work hugely! Using my art to highlight and educate the general public about these issues is a big part of why I do my art. If viewing my piece causes conversation or inward reflection of the person that views it, that is the ultimate goal achieved for me.
This piece featuring me four times with the blue and pink purple makeup, is a piece I did recently for university exploring our identity specifically that of my name.
I called it "Which Megan am I" In this piece I explored the gendered expectations people place on me because of my name. My name, being seen as an extremely feminine name, often leads people to expect me to be a more hyper feminine person which is not the case.
My gender expression is a huge part of my identity and in this piece I wanted to show how I am comfortable expressing it and how people tend to want me to express it. I used colours as a tool to carry the viewers eye through the piece from how I often dress which is considered more masculine to that of the more idealised feminine expression that I feel the pressure to conform to almost every day.
The blue textured piece is a self portrait.
A lot of my work recently has been very textural or digital
so this piece was an exploration into how I could combine those two mediums.
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The large paintings of the women were inspired by the mainstream media's
portrayal of LGBTIQ+ relationships as bleak and gloomy.
The piece, Road Trip, counters this stereotype with a vibrant and
happy image of two girlfriends off on an adventure.
A road trip is something most teenagers would love to do
and is associated with feelings of freedom. This piece was completed
in 2016 and was selected as one of 25 artists in 2016's '25 under 25' art awards.
MEGAN BAKER
LIFE UNRAVELS
FEATURE ARTICLE
"gender expression is a huge part of my identity"
"I thought I could still do everything and attempted to hold it all together but this only made my instability worse..."
" I want to be a professional artist and keep building and expanding my body of work. "
" The biggest inspiration for my work though is my own life, considering a lot of my bigger and more elaborate works are very personal."
I find inspiration in lots of different things. Music is a big one. If I hear a certain song that I really like I'll normally end up creating things inspired by it. I also find other artists work really inspiring. for example going to exhibitions, viewing stuff on Instagram or even just my uni friends work. Probably the biggest inspiration for my work though is my own life, considering a lot of my bigger and more elaborate works are very personal.
I've just finished my first semester at university which is huge for me even though I am going part time. So, I suppose furthering my education once I've completed my degree is in my future. I want to be a professional artist and keep building and expanding my body of work. Hopefully influencing and attracting a bigger fan base in the future. Not that my fans aren't awesome now, the support I've received from family and friends has been so great.
"Through my art I hope to change the world by influencing and causing discussion. Even if a single viewer of my work decides to explore things or change the way they think, it would be pretty great."
interview by: ella wylynko