Elizabeth Matthews
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Missing
acrylic on paper, 20 x 16
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Without Authentication
74 x 48 Oil and charcoal on diptych panels
Storytelling can have a negative effect on the life of a single individual. Storytellers know that those listening will believe whoever is first to tell and that the story gains credibility by being retold many times. Daniel Kahneman describes this human tendency to believe the first telling of a story in his book “Thinking Fast and Slow.” He says we like to believe whoever is first to tell and as humans we rarely check our sources or give others the chance to authenticate the stories told about them. In this way the human family is easily deceived and may inadvertently participate in sharing false stories that isolate and undermine innocent individuals.
In this artwork the story being told lacks authentication. This is symbolized by the blank color shapes representing a missing Chinese chop or seal that is traditionally used to verify and validate authenticity of a work.
To learn more about these artworks here are two articles that give insights into families of domestic violence. What Awful Marriages and Cults have in Common and The Cult of Parenthood: A Qualitative Study of Parental Alienation and here is a talk given by Elder Quentin L. Cook called When Evil Appears Good and Good Appears Evil which explains how the skilled salesman convinces the innocent and unsuspecting to believe that being good brings unhappiness.
Inanimate Escape (with apologies to Edweard Muybridge)
25 x 25, oil on canvas
Referencing the iconic, stop-action photographs of Muybridge’s galloping horse, which first demonstrated that a running horse is flying as all four legs leave the ground at once, this work records the implausible dash of an empty family chair, symbolizing the difficulty of leaving a family with established traditions of domestic violence and cult like behavior.
Galloping horse by Edweard Muybridge
We All Fall Down
Drawing 19 x 15 Framed 39 x 35
Graphite and chalk with colored pencil on paper
Enmeshment is to be caught or involved in something unpleasant or dangerous from which it is difficult to escape. Enmeshment is a dysfunctional family dynamic that is passed through the generations. Enmeshment usually originates due to some sort of trauma or illness (addiction, mental illness, a seriously ill child who is overprotected). https://livewellwithsharonmartin.com/enmeshment/
19 x 15
Charcoal and colored pencil on paper
Indoctrination of the Innocent 24 x 30, oil on linen Indoctrination is the process of teaching a person or group to accept a set of beliefs uncritically. (dictionary.com)
