Vodnik

La Grande Odalisque

The Fish

Artist Statement:

My art is almost entirely based on my identity, and more specifically the double identity I feel myself presenting. Growing up in predominantly white spaces but being biracial and raised by immigrants left me feeling as though I don’t have a singular identity, and that I was forced to define it myself. I’m often the “perfect amount of different” I’ve learned, and I have definitely leaned into that. But recently, I’ve been curious about exploring the things that I feel “othered” by, instead of focusing on conformity.

My recent body of work has dived into the stereotypes I find myself being placed into. I’ve created a series of portraits, all completely unique, that take these stereotypes and exaggerate them. I have taken anything I’ve ever been called, any way I have ever been singled out, and every expectation placed onto me, and created a portrait to act as a caricature of it. My portraits are worse than anything anyone has ever thought of me. They take western opinions and masculine perspectives and throw them back at the audience with their unwavering eye contact.

These paintings do what I’ve been too shy to do in my life. I’ve ignored comments, excused microaggressions, and overlooked exclusion for fear of seeming hysterical. When you’re younger, the approval of others is worth all of the shitty feelings in the world. But I realize doing this only encourages people to say worse things to other people. I want to illustrate that sinking pit I feel in my stomach when I realize that someone doesn’t see me as a person, but as a culture. So here I present a series of angry self portraits, depicting what they see, not what I know to be true. 

Nadia Msalek is a painter currently pursuing a BFA in Painting and Printmaking at VCUArts.