Have you ever been silent enough to listen to fragments of your soul? What might we discover if we gave ourselves the opportunity to explore the inner corridors of our interior selves? What might we create? What might we lose, or own, or share?
The LOTUS Project's inaugural Artist-in-Residence is Trenton's own visual artist, Tamara Torres. The following content is taken from Tamara's website and interviews between her and Artistic Director, Alicia N. Brozovich.
"There is a moment in our lives when we have to be so utterly honest with ourselves. Before I began painting, I listened to an interview between two artists. One artist mentioned imagining having the courage to be truthful with yourself. Be silent enough to listen to what is true in your heart. So I decided to paint something that would represent being quiet enough to listen to fragments of your soul. What would you hear? What would you feel? That real honest conversation no one could judge or manipulate. I sat with that thought for a long time, and as I was painting, I imagined a world of beauty and complexities.
[Listen to an interview with Tamara about her artwork, "Silent Enough to Listen to Fragments of Your Soul" below]
There is a unique process that often begins with a concept rippled from childhood memories, music, or current events. Art has been a way to heal and give voices to the idea of not being cemented to circumstances that would have made me into a statistic from a broken home. It begins with capturing photographs in my city, self-portraits of private moments or of others that speak the truth or inaccurate portrayals of the Afro-Latina woman. The photographs are a process and the beginnings of my paintings. Creating imaginary worlds that give you the sense to swim in them is the goal.
The process of my paintings is opening a spiritual connection that identifies with feelings of hidden truths. They are transformed in one sit-down with a related paint pallet, markers, spray paint, or any materials surrounding my area. With my paintings, I rather not stop and come back to them to complete them because when I am putting a brush against the canvas. Is a revelation that can not be stopped until it's completed otherwise the truth changes. The inspirations come from the energy of my photographs, the trumpets of Miles Davis, the writings of James Baldwins, declarations of Victoria Santa Cruz, and the stories of the unknown heroes who have saved my life growing up in a world that was not safe. Most importantly my paintings have a religious connection to each individual one, a cry for a mental sanctuary from any darkness that has surfaced from unwelcome encounters."
Check out Tamara's studio and pay her a visit at Artworks Trenton!
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