About INVASIVE INTRUSIVE
Being raised in a family with roots in farming taught me something early on — in the right conditions, anything can grow. Growth is especially true in Florida, where the climate and fertile soil lends itself to being a host of many invasive species. Without natural threats, invasive species thrive in their new environment at the expense of the native ecosystem. There are even instances where an "invader" hides in plain sight.
When I moved to California, I found myself having these nagging thoughts.
You are completely and utterly alone.
No one wants to be your friend.
Don't be a disappointment.
You are not good enough.
Did you really think moving across the country was going to fix everything?
The intrusions are nothing new and often evolve. Still, there is one throughline: they always wreak havoc in my internal world. Like an invasive species, these thoughts would thrive at the expense of praise or positive affirmations and continue growing.
I often find it difficult to express the depth of whatever I am experiencing, and I look to natural processes to bridge the gap. Instead of personifying the natural world, I seek to do the opposite. Using chremamorphism, a metaphorical device that ascribes non-human characteristics to people, I aim to explore themes of the body, natural phenomena, the human condition, memory, socio-political considerations, and my Haitian heritage.
While painting has been a large part of my practice for the past few years, I've found that it's not enough to explore these themes. This realization has since led to my exploration of sculpture, sound, and writing.
-Angie Emily Joseph
When I moved to California, I found myself having these nagging thoughts.
You are completely and utterly alone.
No one wants to be your friend.
Don't be a disappointment.
You are not good enough.
Did you really think moving across the country was going to fix everything?
The intrusions are nothing new and often evolve. Still, there is one throughline: they always wreak havoc in my internal world. Like an invasive species, these thoughts would thrive at the expense of praise or positive affirmations and continue growing.
I often find it difficult to express the depth of whatever I am experiencing, and I look to natural processes to bridge the gap. Instead of personifying the natural world, I seek to do the opposite. Using chremamorphism, a metaphorical device that ascribes non-human characteristics to people, I aim to explore themes of the body, natural phenomena, the human condition, memory, socio-political considerations, and my Haitian heritage.
While painting has been a large part of my practice for the past few years, I've found that it's not enough to explore these themes. This realization has since led to my exploration of sculpture, sound, and writing.
-Angie Emily Joseph