Raven Nelson

Clark University, 2024, Studio Art and Art History

Where Does it Hurt?

acrylic on paper

48” x 24”

2022

This piece is a map showing where I feel the most physical and emotional pain. It explores gender, identity, depression and other mental health struggles, body modification, and coming of age. All of the body fragments are from references of my own body and this piece is essentially what it feels like to be me. When I presented this piece to my class for critique, I was shocked to find that almost every student resonated with it in some way, and so I feel it also is a summary of what it’s like to be a gen-zer in their twenties.

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Raven Nelson

Untitled Self Portrait In Drag

graphite and charcoal on paper

18” x 25”

2021

This piece was created when I first began exploring gender and my transition into my identity as non-binary. I sketched myself looking in the mirror modeling drag that I felt identified with my idealized gender expression. My shirt is vintage and the top buttons are left open exposing some of my feminine chest, yet I sport a pencilled on mustache and a masculine up-do. I feel comfortable in the way that my feminine side intertwines with my masculine side. I crave to have someone look at me and question which gender I could possibly be.

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