they told us we could be weightless (they lied)
Jenna Riedl
Boston University
Abstract
2022 | Oil and acrylic on wood panel
Through abstract paintings, I attempt to convey a specific feeling without the more digestible communication of representational images or writing. I concentrate primarily on themes of the body, particularly the queer and female body, and how bodies struggle to simply exist in the world without being judged, edited, restricted, degraded, or demonized. This piece began as an examination of the ways gravity affects paint—the ways it splatters, rolls, and sinks into the wood panel. As layers built up, I began to imagine the space as weightless. Not only were the white circles floating through space, but it felt like a window into a truly weight-less plane—a place where the concept of weight and all its attendant standards did not apply or even exist. As we try to create a world where bodies are considered worthy of respect in their current state, not just in some future, unattainably perfect state, I think it is crucial for people to imagine the euphoric calm that comes from existing without the need for justification or apology.
