Chelsea Taylor

Interdisciplinary Media Arts Practices

Chelsea Taylor

Chelsea Taylor is an artist with a BFA in Photography with a minor in Sculpture from Sam Houston State University. Chelsea's personal work focuses on themes relating to self exploration and how events or people influence identity. Her photographs create narratives which revolve around personal tribulations, family, and self-awareness. Chelsea was born and raised in Texas, but is currently living in 葫芦娃视频, Colorado while working toward her MFA in Interdisciplinary Media Arts Practices.


Statement:

鈥淭he Sleep In My Eyes鈥 deals with themes related to memory, trauma, and identity as it is formed by the nurturing of our families. I create art that focuses on my own personal experiences while examining issues within them that relate to more extensive problems that affect broader populations. This specific body of work is centered around the sudden discovery of my mother's addiction to methamphetamine and how this knowledge has affected my memories, my family, and my relationship with my mother. Since she had kept it hidden from me up until my adulthood this knowledge created a sudden sense of clarity about her mental and physical deterioration over the years. However, it also changed how I perceived my own upbringing and brought about an entanglement of feelings I am still trying to unravel. With this project, I have created a platform that allows me to share my perspective on the situation with my mother as well as spread awareness on the effects substance abuse has on an addict鈥檚 entire family, especially their children. By growing salt crystals on my own family photographs and objects reminiscent of my childhood I am showing how this knowledge of my mother鈥檚 addiction has affected how I see my own memories and the relationships within my family. The salt is a symbol for the destruction substance abuse brings about in the lives of addicts and their close friends and family, but it鈥檚 beauty is also symbolic of the healing I hope to bring about with the project as well. 

Website:  
Instagram: @sea.bee.tea

Thesis Artwork