Exploring the relationship between the strange and the beautiful drives my work. These seemingly contrasting qualities exist together to create forms that are visually compelling and intriguingly odd. Through my practice, I investigate the human experience and our connection to one another and to nature. We come from nature, and our ongoing relationship with it mirrors the way we exist both collectively and as individuals.
The body appears as a recurring form throughout my work, serving both aesthetic and conceptual purposes. By distorting the human figure, I create a sense of lost or shifting identity. The figures function less as representations of specific individuals and more as entities—embodying a shared consciousness or inner state. A central goal of my work is to reverse the relationship between inner experience and external expectation through the manipulation and abstraction of the human form.
Texture plays a critical role in my process and concept. Layered surfaces, organic marks, and tactile builds reference natural features found outdoors—such as erosion, growth, decay, and transformation. These textures echo patterns found in roots, stone, bark, and soil, blurring the boundary between the human body and the natural world. The physical buildup of material mirrors the way identities are formed over time through lived experience, change, and adaptation. This connection between surface, form, and nature is central to the meaning of my work.
Contact: Instagram @colleen_mayy Email: colleenmay98@gmail.com