Torey Akers

Region: MFA Annual

I am interested in excavating the queasy relationship between femininity and abjection through a practice of automatic, anti-masterful mark making. This hyper-detailed, meandering line-work challenges salient modes of representational objectification by actively courting the ambiguities of oppression—do these suspended figures depict wounds, portals, or orifices? The negative space surrounding the icons further emphasizes their vulnerability, coaxing the viewer to contemplate personal distance as both a physical and conceptual consideration. The paintings function as emotional reliquaries to honor female shame. Sometimes they open. Sometimes they can’t.