Capstone 2022
Misgivings in Confidence
by Mary Douberly
The many components determining what or who something is: Identity. Simply defined.
Outer perception, inner presentation, and societal reflections do they make us who we are or disguise our true self? In reality, it’s our reactions to those things that create the self. My art displays the absurd and ambiguous nature of my own self-identification during the production of this installation. The world shapes and changes us throughout our life's journey, the actions that cause reactions that make us who we are never-ending. The closest we genuinely come to self-discovery is knowing who we were in the past and knowing who we want to be in the future. An endless cycle of constantly learning. We try to find who we really are but always end up with a vague description that leaves a blurry picture we can’t comprehend. It’s a force and a forever cycle that never stops moving as it shapes you. Inner self with ambiguous slow reveals. Outer perception opening without consent. Societal reflections that box you in.
Here is the completed installation of Misgivings in Confidence shown from March 28th through April 22nd in Leland Gallary at Georgia College and State University. The installation consists of three pieces an Intaglio printed on a cotton sheet, a charcoal drawing on rag paper, and a plaster cast seated upon a pest trap full of broken clay faces. The intaglio and charcoal drawing hangs on an "a" frame made of rebar mesh, and they all sit on top of astro tref. Each piece represents a separate experience of identity.
The central piece of the installation is the intaglio, composed of three plates printed on a cotton sheet. These images show the process used to create the images. The image is built up slowly using hard ground to block certain areas to start to create features. The reductive process begins when the form is built up, and the outline of each feature is complete. Through the reductive process, highlights are brought back into the plate using a burnishing tool. This process is lengthy but allows a unique sense of depth and texture. This process also informed the concept as the outcome of the print was often unknowable and usually informed the next step, allowing the art to grow as the process went on.