Artist Statement

Experimenting with mixing two distinctive styles of art and mediums my intention for this piece is to bring uniqueness and to solidify it. Incorporating graffiti, intaglio etching, and a woodcut reduction print I want the viewers to see and feel everything I did on my trip to Rome last semester. The strong and bold graffiti will work as a background while on top a few religious figures including homeless figures on top of the wood panel will bring about an unusual harmony that is meant to engage the viewers in what it all means. I chose this style because it struct me as enticing and I wanted to through myself into that part of art I’ve never done before. Being in Rome I’ve encountered so much street art in subways, conversations with the homeless, and not to mention the countless historical context with murals and religious symbols inside churches of Almafi and St. Peter’s. I have decided to mesh them all together in a fun and meaningful way.

I believe there’s a connection between religious figures and the homeless and why I’ve chosen to do it in a particular way or to make them one. These famous religious figures were overlooked, underdressed, had bad hygiene, and were simply made out to be crazy people in their own time’s the same story with the homeless people of our time. We pretend as if their not even there or we’re too big to sit and talk to them and try to better than situation. In our days we’ve seen a few crazy homeless people and it causes us to believe that they’re all crazy or that they smell bad. We feel as though we need to distance ourselves from them in order not to become them. We avoid eye contact to hide our own guilt and shame not knowing we could possibly be entertaining angels in disguises! (Hebrews 13:2- “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing so some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it”) In my eyes, the homeless and saints of the past are similar and should be respected. Throughout Rome even the walls of the St. Peters Basilica rest many homeless men and women cold and hungry. Some who sleep, some who worship the Lord at the top of their lungs and some who talk amongst themselves. What if they’re just as “great” as the figures we know such as Moses or Abraham what if they are destined for more? What if the lesson here is God can take the simple hearted and poor in spirit and make them great. Not great in our earthly standard but great in the eyes of God the one who created them out of Love.

There is a time where a person and artist matures in him or herself and their work increases in creativity and skill. While also growing and maturing, learning life lessons and overall being grateful for what you do have. As I have traveled, I have been changed and in Italian it means “Essere Cambiato” or to be changed. This work of mine has a lot of personal feelings and emotions but I want to encourage the viewers not only to see my experience but to create new ones for themselves. I hope to inspire that change, to become a better version of themselves, and to utterly understand themselves and the world for what it is.

Capstone Project

Contact Information

Email: Mmh6149@psu.edu

Instagram: @mhj_art