Emily M Keyishian

emilykeyishian's picture
Neighborhood: East Bay
Group Affiliation: Pier 2, Fort Mason
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Abstract art allows me to find a path in the world where I struggle to find where I fit, where I belong on the earth. Working in a medium where I can find my way on a canvas without a very specific journey feels very comfortable to me, the way I have had to find my way in the world has always felt without roots. There is no set path that I have found for myself. These paintings allow me to express that uncertainty of belonging, of the body not being in the right place on earth, the journey my family took to get here, leaving a country they loved because they were forced out and always feeling like this land was a temporary stop before they went back, which they never could return. That lives within me and the way I am able to express this through my work allows me to be inspired by that chaos of nature that somehow survives even if it is a mistake or wasn’t meant to be planted there. These dark, tangled images draw me in and that is what I try to recreate.