Thais M. Reyes

  • Thais M. Reyes

  • Our bodies are apt to be our autobiographies.

  • An exploration of body language and emotion in a non representational and abstract way.

  • We tend to hide our true feelings from others and put a mask on for the world to see, but sometimes a mask isn’t enough. Our bodies still hold true to how we feel. Body language gives people insights into the individual’s thoughts and emotions. These drawings attempt to interpret these emotions beyond the superficial in a non representational and abstract way. Here I have four drawings out the nine from the series. The first three are based off an emotion while the last is an accumulation of all. I used mixed media such as oil pastels, colored pencils, charcoal, acrylic, and ink. I reached out to a number of individuals that were open to exposing their true selves to me, physically and mentally, in an interview and photoshoot. I asked them to describe a moment or situation in which they had strongly been influenced by a particular emotion. The subject would then sit for me nude or semi-nude. The notion of posing in little-to-no clothes is important to me because I believe we are more vulnerable in our own skin than hiding away in clothes. The identity and faces of the subjects are obscured because their identity is not relevant; what’s relevant is the emotion being depicted. Three of the drawing is accompanied with a quote from the interview. I hope that the drawings and quotes illustrate both the universality of emotions and the unique way in which each person experiences them. Through depicting these emotions in an abstract and expressive style, the emotion is both classified and left open to interpretation.

    The following are the quotes that accompany three of the drawings:

    1- Till One Falls

    “In this dog eats dog world, you need to stand your ground or everyone will eat you alive. Instead of hiding in my shell, I burst out and grab those threats by the throat and slam them on the ground. I was only trying to find paradise in hell.”

    2- Never Satisfied, Never Sane

    “The line weight is thicker than your faith. Leaving you empty in that slate. As you rest your weightless head curled up behind the baggage you call help, it holds you down in place. Never satisfied and never sane.”

    3- The One

    “I’m stupid lucky to have found him. Being with him puts me at ease. Being with him makes me look forward to our future now that I get to share it with someone.”