Visualising Empathy
Wednesday, June 27, 2018 at 2:46PM 
Self Soothing // Clay Sculpture, 2017
A while ago I started drawing multiple figures on the one page as a way to save paper. However, in developing this technique I realised the power and beauty of exploring the human psyche through our ability to feel complex emotions. I’m looking at self soothing here. The ability to hold oneself at any given moment. Not only in times of sorrow and need but also in the celebration of personal empowerment.
This piece is the 3rd in a small series of little people exploring empathy in the figure. Tiny in scale, my sculptures have been materialised out of life beautiful and sometimes strange lifedrawing studies. This piece was made at the end of 2017 and I'm reflecting on it here in Collemacchia because I think this is what I am trying to achieve with my work, a way to visualise emotion that is felt int the body. Emotion such as empathy, loss, self soothing and struggle.
I'm planning to dive into more of these figure studies upon returning to Scotland as my mountain of lifedrawings continues to grow weekly. Yey for clay, now I can hold my drawings! But for now, I shall catch a bus into Venafro to clear my mind and have an explore before returning to the studio here in Collemacchia for the final push. When in Italy it's totally acceptable to have gelato for breakfast right??!
Ciao for now,
Em x
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