TIANNA BARTON
ARTIST STATEMENT
I am constantly moved to create works that speak to my and other’s experiences and emotions. Subjectivity, as a person, as a woman is always an inspiration for me and through this comes topics seen in my work including the surreal, the weird and wonderful, nostalgia, childhood, gender politics, the taboo, sexuality and sexual development, and the feminine grotesque. Allowing myself to feel uncomfortable and challenged is the only way to move and grow. Moments I drift out of reality, think forbidden thoughts, feel discomfort or shock or emotion, are moments that I pour into my ideas. These ideas I want to then manifest as beautiful striking objects, sights and experiences that influence and evoke thought. My work is driven by socio-political concerns and I ask questions like how does rhetoric function (or not) within art? My love of texture, pattern, brocade, busyness and mess is often used as a metaphor for the unacknowledged reality that every discussion has a multitude of paradigms, experiences and important opinions; sometimes I express this directly through the use of ambiguity and a chaos of interpretations. At the same time, my questioning of certain dogmas, hypocrisies, barriers and social norms in certain works are sometimes parallels for larger issues — where decisions and critical thought are often a challenging steaming pot of valid but conflicting points.
BIO
Born in a log cabin and raised homesteading on Cortes Island, Tianna Barton was raised drinking creek water and pooping in the woods before spending four years of her early adulthood living in various big and small cities around the world. She is now in her 4th year at Emily Carr University of Art + Design and has settled in Vancouver where she hopes to figure shit out.
contact info
FEATURED ARTWORKS
60 Knit Vulvas / 3x5ft / mixed media
Vessel II / 9x9x6in / ceramic