Resonance

Carina Banfitch

Resonance is a collection of process based video and digital paintings. My inspiration comes from nature and psychedelic experiences which I consider sources for mental healing. The sources for a lot of the original paintings were photographs I took of fungi in woods near where I live as well as other natural formations such as snow, ice formations and wasp nests. I made abstract watercolor paintings based on these photographs and digitally collaged them with the original photographs to make kaleidoscopic images. From there I imported the images into an AI program where the AI created its own images. I then stitched the images together to make moving images. 

I thought a lot about how mushrooms are made of threads which they use to communicate. I connected that to the fiber optic threads that make digital communication possible. This led me to thinking about the parallels between human and fungi communication and how communication of experiences can heal. My paintings were all made while under the influence of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), or based on visual experiences while on psilocybin mushrooms, LSD and dimethyltryptamine (DMT). I have found that these experiences opened my mind to better communicate  not only with others, but more importantly, myself. 

Introspection can be hard when we live in a  world filled with constant outward stimulation. When viewing my own art, I feel relaxed, entranced, like everything will be alright. Embracing the compositional simplicity of centrality and symmetry, my works center the meditative qualities of making and pleasures of viewing. 

Carina Banfitch

Everyone Participates​, Fabric and acrylic on glass, Oct 2020, 22x18in

Everyone Participates​, is a very abstract interpretation of the history and current state of the criminalization of sex work. The reds that have been violently painted on the back of the pane of glass represent a few things. The color represents anger, lust, violence, and energy. The way I painted the red onto the glass represents the violence which sex workers have been treated with for centuries and our constant battle to be treated humanely. The blueish white paint on the front of the glass represents the way people who fight against sex work being decriminalized tend to have religious intent in regards to morality. Lots of the red can be seen through the front to imagine our voices finally being not only heard, but listened to. The reason why I painted on the glass was to illustrate the barrier often felt between sex workers and the rest of the public. I chose the wrinkled white sheet as a background to honor the original for of sex work that is to this day the most misunderstood and alienated form. By making a painting that is visually pleasing, I’m reimagining the issue as an approachable one.