2023 Senior Exhibition Artists

Michaela Stapleton

Art + Design: Integrated Studio Arts

About Michaela Stapleton

Michaela is an Integrated Studio Arts Major receiving a BFA, at UMASS Dartmouth. Her work in drawing and photography dramatizes female experiences and emotions. While her work is based on depictions of the female body, she also explores relationships surrounding femininity through the addition of surreal elements.

Statement

Through my work, I intend to portray raw emotions that one could only wish to explain through words. Women’s emotions are often unfairly misconstrued in media, politics and in everyday situations. Often the way they are perceived by the public is unfair. I want to change that narrative and show that feminine emotion is a radical beauty. Romanticized images of women amongst fruit have been seen throughout the history of art and represent different meanings such as fertility and lust. The feminine image has been tainted through time in a plethora of ways. Fruit becomes a symbol in my work of femininity and strength.

I use a variety of different media including charcoal, water soluble graphite, colored pencil, and common materials like “white out.” My photographs play a large role in the communication of this narrative. My photographs attempt to grab a moment in time that is unseen, and unspoken. The process of moving the shot from my head to the camera is quite simplistic. My photographs are a parallel of my drawings, holding a deeper connection in the realm of unspoken emotion. The romanticism of my work is very significant. The lighting helps represent the importance of these amplified emotions. Reality is merely the baseline of my work. Art begins with a blank piece of paper, and then an hour later you have something amazing. I want people to see the connection between rawness and art.