Krista Storm

I started painting and drawing here at Lycoming College three years ago with the intent to discover the nature of identity through self-portrait.  As I progressed in my classes, I abandoned the idea of self-portrait but I still pursued the mystery behind one’s identity.  These paintings are the culmination of that effort.  Instead of focusing on the human face, I started thinking about facial features and how the nature of humanity is all around us, but usually seen from a great distance.  Generally, we are kept at a safe distance from the true nature of the people in our lives, which leaves one to wonder what is a person truly made of?  Wouldn’t it be nice to have a map, a set of directions to finding the self? 

It was this idea of mapping a personality that led me to examine photographs taken of Earth from space.  This long-distance perspective is how it feels to me to try to comprehend our own identity--we recognize the basic form and shape of an object, but the details are lost and assumptions are made.  Long-distance perspectives and the nature of human identity came together as parallel viewpoints.  These ideas led me to the series of paintings presented here and have inspired me to continue to contemplate in my paintings what it is that makes each of us who we are.