Crystal Dunn
Artist Statement
There are different roles I am expected to fulfill. I am to be a scholar, a domestic, a sex goddess, a protector, a nurturer, a perfect daughter, and an unending source of beauty, youth and fertility. I am to be sweet and naughty, strong and loud, sexy and dominant and silent and submissive. I have put a lot of focus on this particular concept in my work, because I believe that it runs deeper than just the visual beauty of art. I am creating work to expose the complexity of females, the connections of our past to present and the overwhelming expectations we allow to place on ourselves.
I take on a stereotype and try to invoke a reaction from the viewer. Using myself as the subject I create a setting and costuming to stage for photos. I rework these photos with various mixed media from colored inks and mediums to champagne and dirt. I then enlarge them to bring the viewers attention to every flaw on body and within the piece itself. My work is not about beauty and glamour. I am showing how all women have multiple sides and how we intimately expose these unique slivers of our identities.
