Psuedosovereign // Ellan Luna // bfa show

Luna’s current work explores ideas surrounding human perceptions of control--and lack thereof--over our fates and existences. Leaning into a sense of magical or subverted realism, these images deal with the complex nature of our relationships with the unknown and the uncontrollable. Through combinations of printmaking, painting, drawing, and wall installation, the series speaks to humankind’s age-old habit of seeking out and attempting to exercise some form of jurisdiction over the unknown. These pieces explore the complexity of the common desire for direction and simultaneous need for control. They aim to shed light on our patterns of interaction with the forces of fate and spirituality: fighting them at times, relying on them at others, wanting to pin down or attempting to control them.

Regardless of preconceived notions of fate and one’s abilities to control it, the figures, symbols and creatures in these works ask the viewer to take another look at what it means to attempt autonomy over one’s existence, and to reflect more deeply upon our own innate desires for a place at the helm of the mysterious and unpredictable.