ANIKA DUA
Paired With: Shannon Davis
Fluttering Relief
This piece was inspired by and created in honor of Shannon Davis, who was a Syracuse University Student from Shelton, Connecticut majoring in Human Development. Her loved ones described her as a radiant soul with the constant intent to touch lives as seen through her work in childcare and community efforts. When it came to wanting to find the best way to honor all that she stood for and the impact she left, nothing really seemed like enough. Shannon would write a lot of poems and she wrote a specific one on butterflies, and how much like the good things in life they do come and go - but we must be grateful for even the short duration they chose to stay. With the idea of grief and life in mind while producing this piece, incorporating butterflies felt like the best way to honor Shannon’s outlook on the life she led as well as pay respect to the wonderful meaning she had created with her words. This piece is in its simplest translation a black and white portrait of Shannon, then accompanied by these butterflies that color only the parts of her face where they land. This idea that she had created with butterflies symbolizing the ups and downs of life and the subtle instances of beauty they add to even the dullest of occurrences was something that as an artist was what I wanted to communicate. The subtle addition of color only where the butterflies land emphasizes the vibrance even the shortest or smallest of beautiful instances may add to life as a whole. I chose to lightly write out her poem in the background of the portrait to further the center of my inspiration as well as incorporate gold leaf detailing to once again bring in the vibrance that Shannon held in her words and her idea of the life that surrounded her. Personally, as an artist, my style pertains to trying to find ways to communicate ideas visually that otherwise, one may struggle to speak into existence. With that being said I feel beyond honored to have been able to create something to honor Shannon as from what I have gathered she too was seemingly an individual with the desire to bring many dynamic ideas to life. It is a constant goal of mine to create artwork that has multiple layers of meaning and alleys of interpretation for every individual viewer and I’m glad I was given the opportunity to explore all of this with Shannon’s story.