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Writer's pictureMonica Blignaut

Camilla Taylor

Artist 281

Camilla Taylor

Darkness in the Self

Sculpture



Camilla Taylor is a Californian multimedia artist. Her motif is explores what we call self and working through darkness within humans.


She is fascinated with the disparity between self-perception and deeds. The way in which self-deceptions enable comfort and smooth over the rough edges of a person’s behaviour. It illuminates how that we deem irreconcilable with the identities we create are left in shadows forgotten. She explores this by creating gothic-based creations through sculpture, drawings, prints, and more.



“People often say ‘I was not myself when I did that’ or ‘that was not the real me’ when caught behaving in ways they feel are unacceptable. We are our bodies, our actions and thoughts. We can create personal mythologies that make a better version of self, but often our acts do not align with these images we create”. Camilla seeks to disturb these shadows.


Taylor’s works often use anatomy with the body, hands, hair, torsos and heads being the physical vehicle of her work. Eyes are used as vehicles between light and dark within humans.


She uses expressive forms with her sculptural limbs to create an emotional impact to her sculptures. She aims to explore the subjective space of ‘unease’.



The darkness that is a part of the human condition is the shadow world that Camilla seeks to reveal. She investigates the notion of absence and lacking. While the works Taylor makes are often personal and draw from her family history, they simultaneously speak to something tangible and universal.


One element of her works is how she drains color from everyday things — objects, heads, torsos and hands— infusing them with a different kind of presence, one that exists in the realm of shadows.



Camilla Taylor’s sculpture opens a portal into the interior world of self and the subconscious as she explores brokenness.





Sources consulted:


http://camilla-taylor.com/about

https://artandcakela.com/2017/10/18/studio-visit-camilla-taylor-seeker-of-shadows/

https://beautifulbizarre.net/2016/09/13/the-amorous-complexity-of-camilla-taylor/

https://artandcakela.com/2020/10/12/camilla-taylor-at-track-16/amp/

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