Ella Bryce Martin Major: Art + Law, Societies, and Justice
Graduation Year: 2026
Details
Oil Paint on Canvas
24 in. x 36 in.
the BASEMENT Publication #08 We all have things that we can’t let go of, events or choices that we've made along the way, that, for better or worse, we have chosen to define ourselves by. I’ve always had trouble with change, and that even includes letting go of the pain that holds me stuck in the same feelings and resentments that I have had all my life. I have never understood how people could flippantly let things go. I never understood how that could possibly be a choice, and why, if it was a choice, I would choose to hold onto all of the pain. I realized that I couldn't let go because I have constructed who I was as a person around my trauma, around the events, and the things that were said to me. If I let that go, I wouldn't know who I was anymore; I would have to change, so in the end, disgustingly, I realized it is a choice. In this piece, there are three different versions of myself, battling in a way with different choices of what to hold onto and what to let go. The door to the room is wide open, and invites you to leave the room and the phantoms of your past behind, any time you want. Or you can choose to sit and stay in your pity, or hide away in the closet. This piece confronts you and asks how you are choosing to deal with your past as well as the trauma that you have, over time, wrapped up into your self-identity.