poison tree

artist statement:

When I created this photo transfer piece, I had just recently come back to school for the first time since March 2020. It had been over a year since I had seen my classmates, and about three months since I had seen any of my friends. In December of 2020, my family had a bad COVID scare, and they decided to keep my sisters and me at home, and we weren’t allowed to see anyone. It was like the initial lockdown, only worse. Since it was only my family doing this, all of my friends were still seeing each other, going out, and having fun. This left me feeling extremely isolated from my typical social life and circle of friends, and not like myself at all. During these dark times, I relied a lot on music to keep me sane, and my favorite song was “Poison Tree” by Grouper. This song was something that was very easy for me to visualize, so when I got the opportunity to make an art piece based on it, I knew exactly what to do. I found this song in the winter, and it made me feel like I was in a dark whimsical forest filled with feelings of melancholy and isolation. This isolation reminded me of what I went through during that time, so that is where I drew the main inspiration from.

—Logan McGonigle