Trapped in the Words You Say

Grace Hendrickson "Trapped in the Words You Say"

9x12, 2023 

I did a project in my free time during the summer with a shot heart in the middle and I wanted to use that same idea and emotion but bigger and better. So I decided I would put a human heart in the middle of a heart-shaped opening. I wanted the background to be made of book pages and I decided later on to circle the hurtful words on the paper. But I still had to keep the heart up so I attached string to it.

I started by mod-podging book pages with circled words onto the paper and later cut out a heart-shaped whole in the middle. I then added marker onto the outline of the heart shape in the middle. I then decided to work on the human heart and used a variety of markers, chalk, and colored pencils and glued the pieces of the heart together. I then started to attach all of the string and taped it and used a marker to add detail to the tape. I then put the human heart intertwined in the string and added little marks all over it to make It look more  worn

 I'm trying to show how words and thoughts can hurt you.  Because the heart is so entrapped in the string, it's using the string and heartful words as a crutch to not fall out in a sense. But you have to get out of using it as a crutch and fall before you can get back up again and be held on something that won't hurt you, something more positive. 
The hardest part was how long it took. It took a while to get every single string attached to it. I have also never mod-podged before so that was cool and fun to do.

I would classify it as abtract