I have a profound interest in embroidery, as I have female ancestors on both sides who embroidered their way through great trials.
My mother was very, very beautiful, and I saw that the beautiful women around me were often constrained not only by their beauty but by the way that being an object of male desire frequently caused violence in their lives. And it caused them to be constrained in these terribly sad ways - their brilliance was not valued.
I fell asleep once while washing dishes. I hallucinated prolifically - like, squirrels knitting whole sweaters! It was like my dreams inserted themselves in my waking life.
There's the way that light shows in darkness, and it is extremely beautiful. And I think it essentializes the experience of being human, to see light in darkness.
I kept notebooks as a kid, and they were important to me.
I never quite became the monster I wanted to be. I feel mostly monstrous as I more become myself. Because the more you become yourself, the more it disturbs other people.
The hardest thing is in terms of the drawing, because, you know, I really have to work to keep my hand fluid, and I've done a lot of recovery, but it's not the same as it once was.
I get afraid of the dark if I'm in a great deal of dark, and I have to move around inside of that fear... But there is a chance that something... will talk to me from the dark, so I have... to be prepared for that communication, which has happened.
Monsters are a departure from 'reality' in a way that allows for a range of fantastic possibilities. I mean this within the world of literature as well as in regards to art. When I sit down to draw, I'm energized by the possibility of creating a monster. That is where I find beauty and pathos.