Amanda Lee
amandaleeprints.com
amandaleeprints.com
Speak of the Object, North Carolina II, Screen print and acrylic, 22 x 30 in, 2015
Speak of the Object, Iowa I - V, Screen prints, 22 x 30 each, 2014
Intergenerational / transgenerational trauma refers to trauma that passes through generations via complex post-traumatic stress disorder mechanisms. As with intuition, the learned experience of trauma is a knowledge held, sometimes unconsciously, in the body and a knowledge that can be transferred to others. In 2010 I started working in and documenting domestic violence shelters in the United States and Italy. By tracking and documenting the objects and structures of our response to inter-personal (IPV) across regions and countries my work exposes the banality and common occurrence of IPV. Images are veiled to convey the unconscious and hidden effects of trauma. I use the multiple, many images, to repeat the urgency of the ceaseless anger of IPV but my embrace of minimal beauty reminds viewers that this damage is divorced from theology, nationality, or class. My prints are also frequently assembled in walls or fields that have a physical presence that convey the weight and enormity of the topic.
Speak of the Object prints and publications are intended to be viewed in galleries, disseminated as small zines, and as large images installed in public places. My work brings into daily view the experience of a community that is normally hidden and a mode of knowledge that can have lasting unconscious effect on generations. The title of this series, Speak of the Object, is taken from a section of the poem dico che il grillo lo scorpione la cavalletta by Italian poet Mariella Bettarini. For me the poem refers to the notion of changing focus from one’s self to an other (object). It is a call to small actions for great progress - “...dando un calico soave a questo mondo perche si metta a camminare” - while giving a gentle kick to this world so that it begins walking.
Speak of the Object prints and publications are intended to be viewed in galleries, disseminated as small zines, and as large images installed in public places. My work brings into daily view the experience of a community that is normally hidden and a mode of knowledge that can have lasting unconscious effect on generations. The title of this series, Speak of the Object, is taken from a section of the poem dico che il grillo lo scorpione la cavalletta by Italian poet Mariella Bettarini. For me the poem refers to the notion of changing focus from one’s self to an other (object). It is a call to small actions for great progress - “...dando un calico soave a questo mondo perche si metta a camminare” - while giving a gentle kick to this world so that it begins walking.