Mary Helen Porter
artist - curator
When I was little I kept a little journal that I hid under my bed. In it, were little phrases that sounded like the opening of a bad country song. I also loved to dance, but only ballet. The other types of dances were for people who "weren't serious artists."
Who isn't a little funny as a child? As I get older it seems like my friends and I tried to top each other with stories of embarrassing moments from our childhood. But, as goofy as my stories are, I am thankful for them. While growing up in Columbus, Mississippi, I developed a passion for art.
I graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy in 2015 as a Comparative Arts major where teachers and peers have pushed me to be my best, honest self. I now attend Belmont University in the fall to further my artistic abilities and gain knowledge in academia by majoring in Faith and Social Justice and Religion and the Arts.
Artforms I have studied: visual art, creative writing, theatre, dance, producing/directing/managing performances.
about me
In all good work there is honesty. Even in theatre, where acting is considered one of the most dishonest of all practices, there is truth within good performing. Even in fiction, there is truth in good writing.
If one searches hard enough within, they will find that there is a sort of truth behind every lie. And if an author’s goal is to trick the reader, time will eventually tell the author’s truth.
And of course the line between reality and fantasy has always been, and always will be, blurred. So how can one be honest if they do not know which realities are true? Well, that's what makes one artist different from another. Since we all see reality differently due to our unique experiences and views; it is impossible for us to duplicate a Da Vinci or re-sculpt The Thinker perfectly. If one was to try to replicate one of these creations, they would be making a product that is not The Thinker, but another work entirely -- because the artist is being honest to what they see.
Honesty is the goal in my work. I do not attempt to create the perfect world, nor a just one, and not even a world at all because our world has already been created. All I can do is record what I see, hear, smell, feel, or truthfully believe. If I am honest with myself, and honest with you, then I make good work.
artist statement
Today our world is able to communicate instantaneously, but even now there are just as many faults in our communication as right after the Tower of Babel fell. With this being said, humans have always strived to overcome communication barriers so that we can interact, and we do this via empathy. This piece is an experimentation with empathy. Can we really exercise our empathy to truly overcome the murky confusion of language barriers, deafness, generation gaps, and gender differences? Or are we doomed by our differences to never communicate purely?
Photo by: Jim Gourley
Photo by Jim Gurley