Helen Wilson's Portfolio

I’m interested in identity, the where and when of its entry, and the genetic and social forces that form us. While using images of children, their toys, myths, and fairytales as tools, I am asking questions about our relationship to the child we once were and the child standing before us. I’m questioning the “romantic” myth of childhood: the myth of the child as a blank slate. I see self-possessed children endowed with psychological individuality. In the large oil paintings of individual infants, I want the viewer to laugh at first and then take a good look. These are not Gerber babies, it can be disturbing to look into the eyes of an infant and not see our idea of a baby, but see a whole, complex person. These children appear to know that you are watching. I’m playing with the child as a myth, a child as a toy. And in that vein, a morphing has begun. Similarities begin to show. Is the Teddy Bear a bear, or has the bear turned into something else? When we turn it into a toy, does part of what it “is” remain? Do the parts we manage to change, transform as intended, or do whole new evolutions begin somewhere between intent and reality? I am also asking questions about adult memories of childhood. What do we remember about that disturbing time of life on the cusp of gaining adulthood while losing childhood? How do these memories affect our beliefs about childhood? More importantly, how have these beliefs and fears affected our children? Currently, I am working with Musician Rosebud Ireland of Bug Guts and Night Soil Man on a Mixed Media piece concerning Bodily Autonomy in its many forms.